Nindo Reborn
by The-Lost-Samurai
Summary: Madara Uchiha had achieved his goal. To transcend the Sage of the Six Paths. After doing so, he singlehandedly brought the ninja world to ruin, slaughtering the Shinobi alliance and ending the war. After dying in the battle against him, Naruto Uzumaki somehow finds himself in a Konoha still standing, in a time before the nightmare began. Can he change the future? Time Travel AU.
1. From the Ashes

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, chapter 678 never would have happened. *Cough* Spoiler! *Cough*

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Chapter I: From the Ashes

Konohagakure had been reduced to rubble. That was the only way to describe it. All that was left? Bodies and rubble. All that was gone? Too much to bear thinking about. The war had been horrifying, until it had been taken to the village. Then it had been an inconceivable, unadulterated nightmare. No...nightmare couldn't even do it justice. Nightmares ended at the climax. Such intricate yet delicate fabrications of the psyche would collapse when the mind would take no more. Life did not work that way. Life went on, forcing the living to bear the brunt of their suffering far passed the breaking point, until one way or another, the living ceased to be so. That was the only salvation, really. To escape the endless nightmare, you must never dream again. And there's the quite literal decision of a lifetime. To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.

_To die._

They wanted nothing more. It was their collective desire at this point. And yet, their wish would have to go unfulfilled for the time being. They still had promises to keep. Those promises had so little meaning now. There was nothing left for them. It was all gone. But how could they possibly let this one go? They had already broken so many. How could they possibly give up this one final act of retribution? The answer was simple. They could not. Even now that he had retreated, his apocalyptic laughter still rang in their ears. It was a constant reminder of their failures. He had been laughing, always laughing, right up until he'd taken off, leaving them alone in the ashes of Konoha. Because he had no reason _not_ to laugh. They couldn't stop him. He'd won.

Shikamaru Nara. Rock Lee. Neji Hyuuga. Sabaku no Temari. Sabaku no Gaara. Naruto Uzumaki. These were the names of the sole survivors of the once great Shinobi Alliance. The last ninja alive in the elemental nations. Other than him of course.

_Madara_.

The name, even unspoken, was like venom in their ears as it repeated itself in their heads like a death chant. He had escaped. He had taken everything from them and gotten away. Naruto had wounded him, but he would heal, they knew. Just like Naruto's injuries would heal once his chakra was replenished. And then it would be back to square one.

As they stood in the rubble of what they knew used to be Ichiraku Ramen, Kurama spoke in Naruto's mindscape for the first time since the battle had ended.

"**I'm almost done replenishing our chakra, Naruto. Your injuries should heal soon," **he said.

_Thanks_, Naruto thought absently as his gaping wounds began to close.

"**I can't find him. Can you sense his chakra?"** Kurama asked. Naruto shook his head and stayed silent. After a few seconds, he looked up at the rest of his comrades.

"I'm going after him." At this statement, they all looked at him in surprise, but then collectively nodded. If Madara was still recovering, they would need to push their advantage as soon as possible.

"Have you located him?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto shook his head again. "He's suppressing his chakra signature, but he won't be able to do that once his chakra starts to replenish. I think I can find him before he completely recovers." Shikamaru nodded.

"Alright, let's go then," Neji said. "We should start off in the direction that he fled. Once Naruto gets a lock on his chakra signal, we'll move in on him."

Naruto was silent at this as he looked at the ground. Gaara stared at him, keeping his expression neutral, although he knew what the blonde was thinking. "Don't even entertain the thought, Naruto," he said coldly. The rest of them looked at him in confusion, but Naruto's resolve only hardened.

"I'm going alone," he said quietly. Their reactions all varied. Shikamaru simply stared at him, his face revealing nothing. Gaara's face remained neutral, but all the sand in the vicinity betrayed his emotions as it swayed in his agitation. Temari looked outraged. Lee looked offended. Neji's eyes narrowed.

"Naruto-kun," Lee began, "I do not think that would be the correct course of-"

"The hell are you saying!?" Temari shouted, interrupting Lee. "You think that after everything that's happened we're going to let you go after that bastard alone!?"

"No, I don't," Naruto answered. Temari's face flashed from angry to confused, and then back to outraged as she understood what he was implying. The rest of them stiffened, coming to the same conclusion.

"So that's it then," Temari seethed. "You're just going to leave us behind and go after him." She gritted her teeth. "You know, I really thought better of you, but I can see that the feeling wasn't mutual! Do you think we're so useless that we'll just hold you back?"

"Temari, it's not that," Naruto said tiredly. "It's just that...now that Sasuke's gone…" he trailed off.

"You're the only one left who can fight Madara?" Shikamaru calmly finished.

"Yes!" Naruto shouted in frustration. They were all silent for a while before Neji finally spoke.

"You know, it's so ironic. It's almost funny in a way." Naruto looked at him questioningly. "I can't help but remember a time when I told you something of a similar nature," Neji continued. "That only a select few were chosen with the ability to follow through with their ideals, while the rest of us were destined to a life of mediocrity."

Naruto bristled. "That has nothing to do with this," he said, almost under his breath.

"Doesn't it?" Neji responded. "It seems to me that our roles are simply reversed now. That you're the genius who insists on fighting alone, while I'm just the failure who can't escape his fate." Neji's voice was bitter. "Oh, how the tables have turned." He paused. "Maybe I had it coming…"

"Neji..." Naruto said desperately, but was cut off as Neji continued.

"And I actually thought that I _could_ escape my fate. That I could carry out my ideals if I just believed I could. Only for the very person who made me believe-"

"Enough!" Naruto shouted.

"-to tell me to _fuck off_ in the end."

"I can't lose you all too," Naruto said in an agonized voice.

"_We have lost just as much as you!_" Neji was actually shouting now. "That man has taken everything from us, so don't act like you have some privilege that we don't! If you're really going to do this now, then you might as well just leave us in the dust right here and now Naruto, because Madara is coming for _all of us_, and we're not going anywhere!"

Naruto's teeth were clenched, and he wore a pained expression. After a receiving a similar reprimand from Kurama, he opened his eyes and looked at each of them. He could tell they were all in agreement. He felt his resolve crumble.

"No," he conceded quietly. "We'll all go together."

Immediately the mood shifted. Neji, Shikamaru, and Gaara all nodded.

"Damn right we are," Temari growled.

"That's what I like to hear," Lee said.

Despite all that had happened, Naruto let a small half smile manifest on his face. Yes, they were in this together, whether they won or lost.

"I've found him," he said. And so, wordlessly, they all made their way toward their deaths.

* * *

Naruto mentally groaned as he drifted back into consciousness. He tried to move but couldn't. He tried to speak but couldn't. He tried to open his eyes to only to be met with the same result. God, was he really so drained that he couldn't manage the faintest of movements? He felt so hopeless. As memories of what had occurred in the past hour rushed through his mind, he felt completely and utterly defeated.

He had known it would happen. He had expected it. But it was still so overwhelmingly agonizing. Why was he still alive? Had Madara left him alive just to mock him? So he could see the result of his failures one last time? They were all dead, and he was alone now. So alone. Deep down he knew it instinctively. He was now more alone than he had ever been, and that was saying something.

So he clung to his last comrade like a lifeline as he mourned for it all. _Kurama...are you there_?

"**Yea kid, I'm here. I just can't believe what I'm seeing," **the fox said. Naruto groaned again as his next attempt to open his eyes failed.

_And what would that be exactly? Why are we even alive right now?_

"**Come into the seal Naruto. You need to see this for yourself," **Kurama said. His voice seemed...awed? Not many things could make surprise Kurama, so Naruto obliged, diving into his mindscape to meet the fox. Kurama observed him. His body language said it all. His shoulders were sagged, and he looked down at the ground in defeat. **"Naruto, look around. We can see what's going on outside the seal from in here, remember?"**

Well yea, he remembered. That's how the two of them were able to switch back and forth into his body and still keep an eye on the battle. But what was so important that he had to see it? They had lost. Plain and simple. Even if he beat Madara now, there was nothing left for him.

Those thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind as he took a look at his surroundings. He could tell that he was lying down...on a bed, in a room that seemed awfully familiar. Well shit. It was _his_ room. How had he gotten here? His mind supplied that the entire Konoha district where his apartment had been located had been destroyed with the rest of the village. Ok, something was wrong here. Was he dreaming?

"**No, you're not dreaming," **Kurama answered.

_Well how do I know that you're not just saying that in my dream? _Naruto thought.

"**Stop being a smartass. I've replenished some of our chakra. Now go find out what the hell is going on."**

Naruto pulled himself back into the corporeal world and opened his eyes. Feeling restored, he slowly got out of bed and walked over to the window. His breath caught in his breath and he froze at what he saw. _Konoha._ Untouched, just as it had been before the war. There it stood, in all its glory, defying all logic, reborn from the ashes. Without thinking, he opened the window and jumped out, landing smoothly and looking around frantically. There were people everywhere, going about their business as if they weren't dead. _What the hell! They're not dead! _What could have possibly happened? Rinne Tensei? No. The only Rinnegan user left was Madara, and he wouldn't do something like this. And even if he did, that wouldn't bring the village back to it's unruined state, and it wouldn't explain why everyone was going about their business as usual.

_Kurama, are you sure we're not dreaming?_

"**Yes I'm sure! How stupid do you think I am!? I've even checked for all signs of a genjutsu. There are none, and no genjutsu could entrap us both! Now stop wasting time and find out what the fuck is happening here!" **The fox was clearly agitated, if his roaring was any indication. Naruto couldn't say he blamed him. And he was right. Even the infinite Tsukuyomi couldn't subdue him with old man Hagoromo's chakra running through his system. What on earth _was_ happening here? He continued to look around until he caught sight of something that made him freeze again. The hokage monument. It was back as well. But Tsunade's face wasn't on it. The faces ended with his father's.

_Are you seeing this?_

"**Yea kid, I am. And I'm just as stumped as you." **Naruto continued staring at the monument, desperately trying to puzzle out what this meant. For a while he stood in the middle of the sidewalk in a trance, until Kurama spoke up again.

"**Naruto, I'm going to speculate a theory. An insane one, but the only one that makes sense."**

_I'm all ears. What the hell is going on?_

"**Do you believe in time travel?" **Kurama asked.

_No I don't. Is that what you think this is?_

"**I don't believe in it either, but I can't think of any other explanation, kid. We're in an undestroyed version of Konoha that is certainly not at war, and the 5th Hokage hasn't been chosen yet."**

Naruto's eyes widened as the notion started to become a possibility in his mind. He looked down at his hands. They were small. As if he was a child. He frantically started looking himself over, and his suspicions were only confirmed. He was a kid! Thirteen at most. This impossible was slowly becoming more and more real. If he had somehow gone back in time, then…

He abruptly started running in the direction of the hokage tower, feeling something that he hadn't felt in a long time. Hope. It was an insane, unfounded hope, but there was only one way to confirm Kurama's theory. He reached the tower and a guard in front of the door caught sight of him. Naruto remembered him. He had been one of the guards who was more tolerant of him back in the day, but he had still been annoyed to no end by his daily mischief.

"Oh great, not again," the guard said. "Listen kid, I don't have time for this today. Shouldn't you be in-"

He cut off as Naruto jumped over his head, sailing up through the air and into the open window of the hokage tower, leaving the stunned chunin behind. As he landed inside of the building, he almost stumbled. This small body would take some getting used to. But those thoughts vanished as he looked at the face of the man who had been like a grandfather to him. The third hokage.

For a while the two just stared at each other. It was a comical sight. The two locked eyes in stunned silence, one trying to puzzle out what had just happened, and the other trying to suspend his disbelief. The old man spoke first.

"Naruto, care to explain how and why you just jumped into my office through the window?" he asked.

Naruto said nothing, continuing to stare at the old man for several more seconds. Finally he answered quietly. "No, can't say that I do," he whispered. The old man frowned.

"Well then, at the very least you should get to class. This is the day of the exam for heaven's sake. You're going to be late." Naruto nodded weakly, then turned around and jumped out the window. Hiruzen frowned again. Had he been practicing his chakra control? Usually it took an experienced genin to focus chakra to the legs like that. The Naruto he knew couldn't even attempt it. And yet he had just casually jumped in and out of his window as if it was the most natural thing he could have done. Where had that come from? Deciding to ask Iruka about it later, he returned to his paperwork.

Naruto ran hurriedly through the streets of Konoha towards the academy, bracing himself for what he was about to see. If the old man was alive, then everyone was. He was back to the day of the genin exam. Deciding he would think about the implications of this fact later, he burst through the doors of the academy classroom, panting slightly. This body was _weak_.

Iruka looked at him, startled, but then smiled. "Forget to set your alarm, Naruto? Well, you're just in time. Take a seat and we'll begin." Naruto was in a daze at seeing Iruka alive, despite having mentally prepared himself for it, but nodded. He made his way up the steps towards the back, looking around at the familiar faces. They were there. Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. They were all alive and well, completely ignorant of what had happened. Or rather, what hadn't. _What never will_, his mind supplied.

He took a seat in the back, next to Hinata, whose eyes widened slightly. Naruto-kun never sat next to her! Her heart sped up as he turned to her and offered her a small smile. And he never took note of her either!

"Ok then, now that we're all here," Iruka began. "Your graduation test will be...the clone jutsu."

As he called names one by one, Naruto was deep in thought. This was unbelievable. The implications of having gone back in time had finally caught up to him now that he had a moment to think. He could do everything over again. He could do it all right this time. He could prevent so many meaningless deaths. For the first time he wondered how much strength he had retained. He could talk freely with Kurama, which meant their link was unchanged. Weird. Why was that? He supposed that if his mind had somehow been transferred into his younger body, then it wasn't that strange that Kurama and the seal, which were linked to his consciousness, had also been brought back in the same state. Which meant even without sage mode, he was a kage level shinobi in the body of a soon to be fresh out of the academy genin. He could work with that.

He would have to do some training to get back into shape though. He couldn't imagine he could fight beyond jonin level in this current body without revealing too much. Going into sage mode or tailed beast mode around his peers wouldn't be prudent. Not that he would need to anytime soon. Getting back into shape would be the first thing to do.

Naruto's brain registered that his name had been called, and he walked to the front of the classroom, and, still lost in thought, produced 15 illusionary clones. Iruka looked at him in shock, and Mizuki frowned. Naruto simply stood there, idly waiting for the verdict.

"You...pass…" Iruka said, slightly awed, not just at the number but at the lack of hand seals. He quickly pulled himself together, and the shock on his face was replaced with a deep pride. Naruto had passed with flying colors! Had had hoped this would happen, but hadn't actually _expected_ it. He felt pretty guilty about that now. Mizuki, on the other hand, was inwardly fuming. There went plan A. And plan B was all the more reckless. God, why did the stupid kid have to pass? Why couldn't he just fail like he was supposed to, like he always did? Unaware of his colleague's thoughts, Iruka called the next name as Naruto made his way back to his seat, still thinking about everything he'd need to plan out. God, planning. He wasn't very good at that. Maybe Kurama could help him with that part.

As he sat down, several other students looked at him in interest. This was new. Naruto passing and even performing beyond what was expected? Shino and Shikamaru were subtly glancing at him, trying to figure him out, while the rest of the class was not so covert. Hinata was looking at him with wide eyes, Chouji had something akin to respect on his face, Ino looked baffled, and even Sasuke had spared him a glance and a raised eyebrow before looking away.

"Showoff…" Sakura muttered.

"Hey Naruto!" Kiba said, a little too loudly. "What the hell was that man? You never get that one down. Have you been practicing?" His eyes narrowed. "Or, are you not really Naruto?"

Naruto looked at his long time rival in brashness and bickering for several seconds. One thing Naruto was very good at was adapting to unexpected situations very quickly. So after getting over the fact that he was talking to the child version of his dead friend, an amused smile slipped onto his lips. Kiba took that as confirmation. Naruto wouldn't smile at an accusation like that!

"So that's it huh!? You're some guy in a transformation pretending to be Naruto! Who are you and what have you done with him!" he shouted as he stood up. Naruto actually burst out laughing.

"Come on, is it really that hard to believe that I passed?" he asked with obvious mirth.

"Yes," Sakura mumbled.

"If I may interject," Shino interrupted. "It is not the fact that you passed that is shocking, Naruto, even if most of us weren't sure that you would. It is the apparent ease and grace with which you did so that has piqued our curiosity, seeing as you showed no such prowess prior to this occasion."

"He's right," Chouji said. "How did you master the clone jutsu so quickly? Last week you couldn't even make one." Naruto shrugged.

"Once I completely mastered shadow clones, regular ones just started to come easily," he said truthfully. Granted, it had taken him until his elemental training with Kakashi to completely master shadow clones, but he wasn't about to tell them something like that.

"Shadow clones?" Kiba repeated. "Isn't that a B-ranked ninjutsu? You expect me to believe that you can do that?" he asked mockingly.

Naruto flashed him a large smile. "I can't say I expect much of anything from you, dog breath," he said. He was really enjoying this. Talking to his friend again was nothing short of miraculous. Even if some of them didn't see him as a friend yet so much as a classmate. Several students giggled as Kiba grumbled indignantly.

"Are you all quite done?" Iruka asked in exasperation. "If you're going to talk during the exam, don't do it so conspicuously. And Kiba, enough with the ridiculous theories. If someone was impersonating one of our students, I'm quite confident that either Mizuki Sensei or myself would notice a simple transformation."

Naruto grinned widely. "Says the guy who got a nosebleed from my simple transformation just yesterday!" Iruka looked annoyed as Kiba laughed.

"Ok, maybe you are Naruto," he conceded.

Once the exam ended, Iruka told them all to meet here in a month to be sorted into teams and to meet their jounin instructors. They all filed out, Naruto reveling in the second chance he'd been given.

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A/N: I know there are a lot of Naruto time travel stories out there, but I still wanted to give my own a shot, so here it is. Hope you like it so far.


	2. Something to Fight For

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Chapter II: Something to Fight For

Naruto's next month primarily consisted of taking in the sights of the home that he had once lost. He was content to spend his mornings simply roaming the streets of Konoha rather aimlessly, seeing everything there was to see as if it would all soon dissolve right before his very eyes. He was going to Ichiraku Ramen for lunch every single day, although even the heavenly taste of his favorite food was a secondary pleasure to seeing Tsuchi and Ayame alive again. He spent his afternoons training. After he had gotten a feel for how good he was, he had started getting a better feel for his old body, and polishing up his taijutsu, which had taken a hit due to said body being extremely out of shape. He had almost forgotten how malnutritioned he had been as a child, what with Ichiraku's being the only store that didn't throw him out or at the very least make him feel like he wasn't welcome. Then there was the matter of what he could actually afford.

Luckily, his skill in ninjutsu hadn't been crippled nearly as much as his taijutsu. Because his chakra pool was linked with Kurama's, the difference in his own chakra capacity wasn't significant to the point where it threw off his chakra control. He had tested out some of his lower level ninjutsu, seeing as the higher level ones would attract some...unwanted attention, and they seemed to be just as powerful as before. Once he had a good feel for his chakra, he tried gathering some natural energy. It felt different, but he was able to go into sage mode without threat of petrifying at the very least. It didn't hurt that Kurama could easily disturb his chakra flow if he screwed it up, but he didn't seem to be having many problems with it.

He held off on entering tailed beast mode for obvious reasons. The last thing he needed was the entire ninja village to panic and think that they were under attack again.

It was now the day before team placements, and Naruto had been called to the hokage's office to discuss his performance in the exam a month ago. He didn't really get what it was about...until the old man asked when he had mastered the clone jutsu to such an extent. Oh yea. Maybe he'd went overboard with that one, but he hadn't exactly been paying attention at the time. He replied that he had worked on it in the week leading up to the exam. The hokage looked slightly tired after he said that, for reasons he couldn't quite understand.

"Naruto, do you remember the skill you demonstrated in this very office the morning of your exam?" Naruto looked confused for a moment before realization dawned on his face.

"You mean the window thing," he said. The hokage nodded.

"I've spoken with Iruka, and he claimed that he had no knowledge that you could manipulate chakra in such a fashion. Where did you learn to do that, exactly?" he asked patiently.

"I've been working on my chakra control too," Naruto said. Hiruzen nodded slowly.

"And are you aware of the difficulty of what you've learned?" he questioned.

Naruto frowned slightly. "I thought that any genin could learn how to do that."

"While this is true," the hokage began, "most genin learn it from their jounin instructors. It is a little surprising that you managed to do so on your own. I can't say that any of your classmates have gotten to that level of chakra manipulation yet. You also easily scored the highest on the graduation exam. I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I'd simply like to know how you managed to start improving so quickly," he said.

Naruto was silent for a while as he gathered his thoughts. Finally, he spoke. "I guess that I didn't really have a very good motive to get stronger before," he admitted. "It's not that I didn't try hard, but I was always trying for my own sake, and mine alone. I just wanted everyone to acknowledge me." He looked up at the elderly village leader. "But not everyone did. I realized it wouldn't be so easy. And every time I thought like that, it just dragged me down. It was hard to find the right drive that way, you know?"

Hiruzen nodded slowly, stunned that Naruto was speaking so openly about this. The boy continued.

"But then there were just a few people who did acknowledge me," he said, and a small smile etched onto his face. "And one day, I just decided that I didn't need to be acknowledged by everyone. As long as I made the select few who actually cared proud of me, that alone would be worth it. I stopped thinking about myself and started thinking about them. I thought about them every day." The boy's smile widened. "And now, I can say for sure that I have something to get stronger for," he finished.

Hiruzen was silent for a long while as he played back the words through his head, as if clinging to each and every one, committing them all to memory. His curiosity on this matter had borne fruit. Naruto had surpassed his expectations once again. The boy who should by all rights hate the world had found something to keep him going. He had endured. And now, he had something to fight for. Rarely had Hiruzen witnessed the Will of Fire burn so brightly in one so young. Or in anyone really. And yet, the spark of potential in this child in front of him had been lit. A fond smile made its way onto his own face.

"I think I understand now Naruto. Thank you." He removed his pipe from his mouth and blew out a puff of smoke. "Well, you have a big day tomorrow, don't you? Wouldn't want to waste all your time in this boring old office. You're dismissed."

Naruto brought on hand to his forehead in a salute. "Yes sir!" As he got up though, they both heard the door creak, and a moment later, a small boy they both recognized burst through it and yelled.

"Give up you old man!" The hokage sighed in exasperation as Konohamaru tripped and fell flat onto his face. He groaned in pain as idiot #2 burst through the doors as well and asked if he was alright. "Dammit, who put that there!?" the boy shouted. He looked over at Naruto and quickly found a scapegoat. "Ahah! It was you who tripped me wasn't it!?"

Naruto stared at him blandly. "It was your scarf," he said in a bored tone.

Konohamaru looked taken aback. "Huh?"

"The scarf," Naruto repeated. "How can you expect to not trip over that thing? It hangs down to the floor. You're clearly too small for it," he said.

Konohamaru jumped to his feet. "How dare you! I am by no means small! I just haven't grown into my height yet!"

"Right, because that makes sense," Naruto said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Why you!" The boy ran straight at him, but Naruto simply sidestepped him and stuck his foot out. Konohamaru tripped over it and fall again.

"_That_ time I tripped you," Naruto said with a smirk. Ebisu looked outraged as Konohamaru got up and rubbed his forehead. His grandfather continued to sigh as he watched.

"You insolent little brat," Ebisu began. "Know your place! That is the third hokage's grandson!"

Naruto looked at Ebisu with a deadpan expression. He turned his gaze to the hokage, and then back to the now smirking Konohamaru, before sweeping the boy's legs out from under him. He fell on his ass this time, and groaned in pain. Ebisu looked horrified as Naruto strode over to the window and jumped out. The hokage sighed again.

* * *

The next hour went a lot like it had in the previous timeline, as Naruto remembered. Konohamaru ditched Ebisu, followed him down the street in a poor attempt at concealment, and demanded that he be his boss. They made their way into the forest where Naruto attempted to teach him the transformation technique with slow success, until Ebisu showed up and demanded that he stopped tainting the mind of his student with his filthy ideas. Naruto proceeded to beat the crap out of him, knowing he would never tell anyone, and then recited his badass speech about how there were no shortcuts on the path to hokage. You would have thought Konohamaru had been divinely inspired by the end of it all.

After that, Naruto had one more thing on his to do list. After a bowl of ramen and a quick thank you to Ayame, he took off in the direction of the training grounds where he knew Team Guy trained. As he leapt across the rooftops, he remembered that the Neji of this time was a bit...uptight. Ok, that was an understatement. He had a huge stick up his ass. Oh well. That would be fixed soon enough.

He reached the training grounds and caught sight of Guy. He was coaching Neji and Lee while they sparred as Tenten watched in interest. Guy must have noticed his approach, because he immediately turned around looked at him in interest.

"Neji, Lee, well done! Take a break for now," he instructed before turning back to the new arrival. Neji had obviously spotted him too, but didn't seem very interested, and walked away. When Lee and Tenten noticed him, the looked at him curiously. He wasn't wearing a headband. Was this kid a civilian? "Hello there!" Guy greeted enthusiastically. "Do forgive me, but I seem to be at a loss as to why you are here! This training ground has been reserved for my team this afternoon. Are you perhaps lost?"

"Um, actually no," Naruto replied. "I'm Naruto, an upcoming genin. My team gets assigned tomorrow, and I wanted to work my taijutsu before then. You're Might Guy right? I heard you were a taijutsu specialist, so I came to find you. I was wondering if you knew where I could get some training weights."

That piqued Guy's interest. He knew who this kid was of course. He was the host of the nine-tails that was so unyouthfully discriminated against due to the circumstances of his birth. But it warmed his heart to see that the young lad was still striving to become a successful ninja despite everything he must have endured.

"Of course!" Guy all but shouted. "It would be my pleasure to direct a determined youth such as yourself towards his necessary training tools!"

Lee pumped his fist in the air in enthusiastic agreement. "You have come to the right place Naruto-san! Our sensei will guide you in your endeavors without fail!" Tenten giggled. She had seen this play out many times already, but it never got any less entertaining. Here came the part where this fresh genin was either scared away by their antics or scarred for life in his attempts to endure them long enough to get what he needed.

Naruto didn't bat an eye. "Great. So did you have any places in mind?" he asked. Tenten sweatdropped. Or, he could be completely unphased by it too. There were always outliers.

Guy rubbed his chin in thought. I know a few places, the best of which in my experience is a shop owned by Tenten's father." He pointed down at the weapons specialist, who waved.

"Our shop isn't open right now, but my shift there begins right after our training ends," she said to Naruto. "I can take you there afterwards if you want. We finish up here in an hour." Naruto nodded his agreement.

"Mind if I stay and watch in the meantime then?" he asked.

Guy flashed him a thumbs up and grinned widely. "We would be honored to have you observe our methods!" he said. "In fact, we can do even better! Why don't you join us? My students can give you a taste of what being a genin is like."

"Join your training session? Is that ok?" Naruto asked. Guy waved his hand dismissively.

"Think nothing of it. If it will help prepare you for the life of a ninja, then who am I to pass up the opportunity as a fellow Konoha shinobi?"

Naruto smiled. "Guess I can't argue with that logic," he admitted.

"Very well then! Lee, Neji, continue your spar. Tenten, why don't you evaluate our guest's skills?"

Tenten nodded and turned toward Naruto as Neji and Lee continued their taijutsu match. "Alright, what's your thing?" she said.

"Uh, my what?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"You know, your method of combat," Tenten clarified. "What do you specialize in?" she asked.

"Oh. I guess you could say I'm a ninjutsu specialist," he replied.

Tenten raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Let me guess. The academy three?"

Naruto smiled again. "Among other things. Don't underestimate the academy three though. They can save your life if you use them right."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll give you that one. Let's see if you can use them right then. Whenever you're ready," she said.

Naruto pulled out one of the cheap kunais that had been one of the defining traits of his mediocre childhood. Tenten frowned. "You're gonna need more than training weights when we're done here," she said. "That thing looks like it's about to fall apart."

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly. "They're all I can afford," he admitted. "Never mind that though. You can start whenever you want."

Tenten pulled out two shuriken and casually threw them a Naruto, aiming for his arms. No need to go all out on a new genin before she knew what he could do. That could end badly. Naruto didn't disappoint though, effortlessly deflecting the projectiles with two short swipes of his kunai. He then threw the kunai at Tenten, and it rebounded off of her own kunai. Before Tenten could throw hers however, Naruto vanished from her sight. Her eyes widened as she recognized the rusty kunai that he had just thrown in place where he had previously stood. In a show of experience, she turned to where she knew the kunai had rebounded just in time to sidestep the punch that Naruto aimed at her face.

_Sealess substitution. That could be a bit problematic_. Tenten leapt back, attempting to gain some distance as she threw more shuriken at the blonde. Unarmed now, he weaved through the projectiles, which allowed her enough time to take out a scroll and unseal a bo staff before throwing another kunai at him. Her hope was to slow him down long enough to get a hit in, but he simply caught the kunai out of the air and used it to block the swing from the staff. He then brought a foot forward and swept one of her legs from under her, throwing her off balance. As he brought the kunai up, Tenten regained her balance by planting her staff into the ground. She pushed down on it, lifting herself off the ground, and swung around to aim a kick at Naruto's head, which he blocked with his free arm. He then threw the kunai in his hand up above their heads. Before Tenten could wonder why he'd do something like that, Naruto grabbed her arm with both one hand, caught the defensive swing from the bo stuff in the other, and swept her leg out from under her again. It was quickly becoming obvious to Tenten that he was quite a bit better than her in close combat. Even though she excelled in mid to long range, this was still slightly disheartening coming from someone fresh out of the academy.

In one swift motion, he threw her up into the air, she quickly righted herself in midair to face the ground in preparation for anything he might throw at her while she was vulnerable, but he disappeared from her sight again to be replaced by a kunai again. Her eyes widened as she remembered her own kunai, which he had thrown into the air. Both of her arms were grabbed from above, and she yet out a yelp as she fell back to earth and landed on her stomach, her arms pinned behind her back and her bo staff laying harmlessly at her side.

"Looks like I win," Naruto commented as he got up off of her. Tenten got up and dusted herself off.

"Yea, looks like it," she said. "Man, I really underestimated you. You know what you're doing. I thought you'd be one of those new genin who were thought they could get by because they got good grades in the academy," she admitted.

Naruto laughed. "Well I hope not," he said. "I was the dead last in the academy."

Tenten stared at him in disbelief. "Seriously?" she asked. "What you just showed was above the level of any rookie genin I've met. Was the competition that difficult this year?"

"Nah, it's not that," Naruto said. "Things happened, and one thing led to another," he added vaguely. "I can't really say I blame myself for it, but I'm not about to make excuses either. I'll just try to do better from now on I guess."

Tenten hummed thoughtfully. "Well, from what I've seen, I don't think you should have too many problems."

"Indeed," came the voice of Guy, who had been watching intently. "I must say, that was quite the display Naruto. It wasn't quite what I expected." He grinned widely. "The fires of youth definitely burn deeply within you! I look forward to seeing how far your passion will take you on the road of the ninja!"

"That was great Naruto-san!" Lee shouted, panting slightly after his spar with Neji. "To beat Tenten during your first spar is nothing short of astounding!" Tenten looked slightly annoyed, but she wasn't about to disagree. Meanwhile, Neji subtly observed Naruto, as if trying to puzzle something out. Eventually he turned away and continued ignoring them all, choosing to practice his gentle fist forms instead.

After their training session ended, Tenten led Naruto to her family's weapon shop. She unlocked the doors and switched the closed sign to open. "I guess you're our first customer for today," she said. "So training weights right? We keep those over here." She led him to a shelf with a variety of weights, but something else caught Naruto's eye.

"Hey, those are resistance seals right?" he said, pointing at another shelf. Tenten looked to where he was pointing, and nodded in confirmation.

"That's right. Unlike weights, you can activate them with hand seals. They're more expensive, but if you're planning on increasing the weight as you grow accustomed to them, they'll pay off after a while. Would you like to try them?"

Naruto nodded. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure how much weight he would need in the long run, so it would be better to be able to increase it as he trained. Tenten got him a pair, and after testing them to his satisfaction, he placed them on the counter. Tenten frowned.

"You know I don't feel too great about letting you go out on missions with those faulty kunai. Why don't you come back here once you save up some money from D-ranks if you can't afford weapons now? It would be dangerous to go on anything above that without proper equipment."

Naruto thought for a moment. "Actually, I should be able to afford it right now," he said. The only reason I couldn't before was because every shop I went to overcharged me for anything I tried to buy. But assuming you're not going to do that, it should be fine," he said with a grin.

Tenten looked puzzled. "You mean to say that every shop you went to raised their prices specifically for you?" she asked skeptically.

Naruto shrugged. "I guess you could put it that way. It's not like they told me they were doing it though. It took me a while to realize it. Since everyone was doing it, I had nothing for an actual comparison."

"But why would they do that?" she asked.

"Long story," Naruto replied as he walked around the store, looking at weapons. "One that ends with most of the civilians in this village hating my guts." Tenten wanted to question him further about that, but took the hint and dropped it. Naruto picked out a full set of kunai and shuriken and placed them on the counter as well.

"Aren't you forgetting something else?" she asked. Naruto looked at her, and then to the pile on the counter, and then back to her, before shrugging. Tenten pointed at the orange jumpsuit he was wearing. "You're really going to wear _that_ on missions?" she asked. You'll get spotted easily." Naruto grinned sheepishly. He hadn't worn his childhood jumpsuit since he had outgrown it during his training with Jiraiya. The only reason he had been so attached to it as a child was because it made people notice him. That and he really liked orange. Seeing as he wasn't desperate for attention anymore…

"I guess a new outfit wouldn't hurt," he said. He walked over to a row of shelves and looked over the ninja attire. After a while he pulled out a black jacket with orange lining, slightly similar to the one he had gotten from Jiraiya, and a simple pair of navy blue pants. Tenten frowned again.

"Kind of simplistic isn't it?" she asked. Naruto groaned.

"What am I? A fashion model?" he asked rhetorically. Tenten ignored the question and told him to wait a minute. She walked from shelf to shelf, picking out three items. The first was an orange t-shirt. The second was an orange haramaki. The third was a black zippered jacket with a blue lining and a high collar. He noticed that the jacket had the red insignia of the Uzumaki clan on the back.

"Since you seem to like orange, this should do right?" She took the jacket he had chosen, leaving him with the navy blue pants, and handed him everything she had picked out. "Go try it on," she said excitedly. Naruto shrugged and went into the fitting room. When he came out, Tenten led him over to the mirror. "Pretty good right?"

Naruto stared at his reflection. "I'll take two of everything," he conceded.

"Of course you will," she said happily, before picking out the rest of what he needed and bringing everything to the counter. "Don't worry about the outfits. They're free of charge. The rest comes to 3600 ryo."

"Wow, thanks," Naruto said as he payed. "What's the occasion?"

"Who knows? Call it a gift," she said. Naruto wasn't about to complain, and waved as he walked out the door made his way down the street. He ignored the usual glares which he had gotten used to by now...again. After he got back to his apartment, he took the resistance seals and brought them to his usual training ground before trying them on. He spent the rest of the day practicing his taijutsu with shadow clones before returning to his apartment. Tomorrow was a pretty significant day as he remembered.


	3. Team Seven

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter III: Team 7

The classroom was buzzing with excitement as Naruto walked in. He yawned tiredly as he ascended the steps to the back of the room. Hinata watched him walk towards the back and was just the slightest bit disappointed when he turned right and took a seat next to Sasuke Uchiha. As if feeling her eyes on him though, he turned toward her and offered a wave. She looked away, embarrassed at being caught staring.

Naruto turned towards Sasuke and attempted to make small talk. "So how was your month off? Get any good training in?" He intentionally broached the topic Sasuke would be most interested in. The Uchiha turned his eyes toward him, then surprisingly, nodded in confirmation.

_Wow, that's farther than I thought I'd get._

"Work on anything in particular?" Naruto asked. "I myself was working on this pretty awesome jutsu-"

"Naruto, get your ass out of my seat!" came a voice from behind him. Naruto turned to see Sakura pointing at him accusingly, and then turned back to Sasuke, who was now back in ignore mode. He sighed before turning once more to Sakura.

"Did you call fives? I assume you were sitting here before," he said with a smirk. The girl did not look amused, but before she made any attempt to put him in his place, he pointed to the other side of Sasuke. "If you're that determined, there's another seat on the other side of him…"

Sakura noticed he was right, and though she looked like she wanted to argue, she knew that she would just seem unreasonable if she did that, so she walked to the other side of the annoyed Uchiha and sat down, staring at him and smiling all the while. Iruka then walked in and greeted the class.

"Starting today you are all official ninjas. Keep in mind that you are still rookie genin, however. It only gets harder from here. Soon you will be assigned certain duties by the village, so today we will be grouping you into 4 man squads, with 3 genin and a jounin sensei."

Everyone in the class started muttering as they wondered who they would be sorted with. Sasuke was currently thinking that a team would just slow him down, while Sakura was hoping he'd be with Sasuke. Naruto was thinking about ramen, seeing as he already knew which team he'd be on. His performance in the exam hadn't been enough to pull him out of his dead last status, so in theory he'd still be assigned to team 7. He continued to zone out as Iruka went through teams 1-6.

"Team seven will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno-" Sakura stood up and cheered the moment she heard that, much to Sasuke's continued annoyance. "-and Naruto Uzumaki." Hearing that, she started sulking.

_I'm doomed_, she thought. Naruto ignored the not so subtle insult and turned towards his teammates.

"Sounds like a plan. I look forward to working with you both!" he said. Sakura glared at him while Sasuke turned his eyes to him again but said nothing.

"Team 8 will be Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga. Team 9 is still in effect, so team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your jounin instructors will be introduced later this afternoon. For now, you're dismissed."

One student raised his hand as everyone filed out. "Hey, what happened to Mizuki sensei?" he asked. Iruka looked uncomfortable and awkwardly avoided Naruto's gaze as he answered.

"Mizuki sensei was involved in an unexpected incident and won't be able to teach at the academy anymore," he said vaguely. Naruto snickered, remembering how he had tracked down Mizuki while the village was in a panic and beat the crap out of him...again. He didn't really need to do it. The anbu would have been mobilized this time since it was a chunin, not an academy student, who had stolen the scroll, which could be interpreted as nothing short of treason. Sometimes he just liked to take matters into his own hands. When the anbu found him and he presented the scroll to them, he was taken in for questioning, and testified that he had found Mizuki fleeing the village with the scroll and snuck up on him. They didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but he was released anyway. They could hardly fault him for apprehending a traitor, even if it was unprecedented for a newly appointed genin to do so.

Naruto caught Sasuke and Sakura outside as Sakura was following Sasuke, trying to get him to talk to her. "Hey, you two, what do you say we hang out a bit? It would be good to get to know each other by the time we meet our sensei." Sasuke stared at him with an unreadable expression. He took one look at Sakura before turning and walking away. Sakura, not quite taking the hint, followed after him, leaving Naruto alone.

_Well then._

* * *

Sasuke's irritation was quickly increasing as Sakura continued to follow him and ask annoying questions. Finally he stopped at a bench near the entrance to the village. Clearly ignoring it wouldn't make it go away, which left him with only one option. Drive it off. Before he could say anything though, a whirlwind of leaves came to life in front of them, and their other new teammate materialized in the center of it, grinning.

"Great! Looks like we're all here. Nice place for a group talk right?" He knew that Sasuke wasn't going to interact with Sakura, Sakura wasn't going to interact with him, and that Sasuke wasn't going to do so either even if he tried to be civil while Sakura was wearing at his patience. So clearly the solution was some group bonding right? Sasuke and Sakura didn't seem to agree, but that was to be expected.

Sakura glared at Naruto. Sasuke-kun was just about to talk to her when this idiot decided to show up! What was with his terrible timing?

Sasuke had his eyes narrowed for a different reason. _Was that a body flicker?_ he wondered.

"So," Naruto began. "Why don't we start by-"

"_You_ can start by leaving," Sakura interrupted. Naruto scratched his head in response.

"But I just got here," he protested. "What's your problem anyway?" He remembered that Sakura hadn't been very fond of him back in the day, but had she really been this snobby? He didn't remember it that way. Then again, his perspective may have been compromised by his crush.

"My problem is you're annoying," Sakura replied. "Why don't you go vandalize the hokage monument or something?"

Naruto hummed. "Good idea. I haven't done that in over a month." He smiled in spite of the clear verbal assault. "You guys wanna help?"

Sakura scoffed. "Believe it or not Naruto, some of us can't just do whatever we want all the time. My parents would ground me if I did something like that."

Now that...that was harder to ignore. He definitely didn't remember her ever saying anything like that. He frowned as he attempted to reconcile the girl standing before him with the Sakura he knew that had died in the war, with little success.

Sasuke started walking away, his body posture rigid. Sakura noticed and asked where he was going. He stopped and glared back at her. Not in annoyance this time. The look on his face could be mistaken for nothing short of hatred. "Being scolded by your parents...it's not something that compares to the pain of loneliness. Piss off. You're far more annoying."

Sakura stared in shock as he continued to walk away. For the first time she considered that she had said something wrong.

Naruto sighed and started leaving himself. Clearly any attempts to start off team 7 on the right track had just failed.

No one spoke as the three members of team 7 sat far away from each other. Sasuke sat alone in a corner while Naruto sat next to Hinata again. One by one, the jounin senseis filed in and rounded up their new students, until only teams 7 and 8 were left. Kurenai showed up to collect team 8. Hinata glanced uncertainly at Naruto and the others, debating whether or not to ask something, but Kiba beat her to it.

"Shouldn't your sensei be arriving soon?" he asked Naruto. Naruto scoffed.

"If he does, I'll make out with Sasuke," he said. The Uchiha in question completely ignored him. Kiba shrugged, and left with the rest of team 8.

The next 3 hours were the most awkward of Sakura's life. She kept trying to think of something to say to Naruto, but couldn't find the right words. In the end she just sat there, subdued and unable to meet his eyes. After what seemed like forever, Naruto spoke up. "He's coming."

True to the boy's word, a silver haired masked man came through the door. He looked around at his team, taking note that they were all unusually quiet and on opposite sides of the room. "Hmm, my first impression of this group…you guys need to lighten up! Meet up on the roof," he said as he walked out.

* * *

"Alright, let's start with some introductions," Kakashi said as he sat on the guardrail at the edge of the roof. When no one spoke, he sweatdropped. "You can begin by telling me your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future."

Naruto smiled despite his relatively bad mood. "Why don't you start sensei?"

"Oh, me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't feel like telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dreams for the future...well, I have a few hobbies. Ok, next. You," he said, pointing at Naruto.

Naruto suppressed a laugh. It was exactly the same as last time. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like Ichiraku ramen. I dislike people who use me as a scapegoat for their problems. My hobbies involve training and pranks. My dream for the future...is to become the greatest hokage in the history of Konoha, in order to make those that acknowledged me proud, and to help bring peace to the elemental nations."

Sakura seemed taken aback by this, and even Sasuke glanced at him in curiosity. Kakashi stared at him quizzically. That was one big dream he had. Not to mention an odd one. What genin thought about bringing peace to a world that had been ravaged by three wars already? Peace was usually something that war veterans wished for, not fresh out of the academy genin. Deciding to ignore this for now, he turned to the Uchiha.

"Alright, how about moody over there?"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have many dislikes, but I don't really like anything. I can't say I have any hobbies either. What I have is not a dream, but an ambition. I will restore my clan...and kill a certain man."

Sakura stared at him in wonder and fascination, while Kakashi's gaze was more critical. He hadn't expected anything else, but that didn't change the fact that this would not be easy. "Ok, and lastly, pinky," he said, motioning to Sakura.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like is…" She trailed off as she looked at Sasuke. "My hobby is…" Her sentence went unfinished again as she continued to gaze at the Uchiha. "My dream for the future is…" She looked away and squealed.

Kakashi sweatdropped. "And? What are your dislikes?" Sakura blinked and hesitated.

"I...don't really have many…" she said slowly. Kakashi wondered what she was thinking but didn't care enough to ask. Naruto subtly glanced at her. That was...different.

"Ok then, that's enough of that for now. Our first activity as a team will start tomorrow."

"Our first activity? What will that entail?" Sakura asked.

"Survival training," Kakashi answered.

"Training? Didn't we do enough of that back at the academy?" Kakashi ignored the naive question and went on.

"Actually, this isn't normal training," he said.

"Let me guess, you're our opponent?" Naruto asked, trying to get this to move quicker.

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "That's right, but…" He started chuckling.

"What's so funny sensei?" Sakura asked with a slightly annoyed, slightly worried expression.

"Oh, it's just you guys are going to flip out when I tell you," he replied. The look on his face suddenly became very menacing. "Of the 27 graduates, only 9 have a chance to pass. The training has over a 66% failure rate."

Sakura suddenly looked like death had warmed over. Sasuke kept a focused expression as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. Naruto was deep in thought.

"Tomorrow you will be graded on your performance out in the field. Bring all of your shinobi tools. Oh, and you might want to skip breakfast. Otherwise you'll puke." He let that all that sink in before handing them handing each of them a printout with the time and location. "Don't be late," he said jovially before vanishing in a puff of smoke. As team 7 dispersed, Naruto continued trying to think of a way to get Sasuke and Sakura to work with him during the test.

* * *

The next morning Sasuke and Sakura met up at training ground 3 at 8 AM. Sakura eventually gave up trying to get Sasuke's attention and they waited in silence for Naruto and Kakashi. And waited...and waited. Their frustration was building at the half hour mark and reaching its peak at 9 AM when finally Naruto showed up. Sakura glared at him as he walked up to them.

"You're late," she grumbled. Naruto smiled innocently.

"So I am," he said as he pretended to look around for any sign of their sensei. "Hope I didn't miss much." Sakura ignored the sarcasm when she caught sight of the boxes in his hands.

"What's with the food?" she asked as her stomach rumbled. Naruto set the boxes down and opened them, and immediately the tantalizing odor assaulted Sakura's senses. She mentally groaned. Sasuke looked over in annoyance, having not eaten breakfast himself.

"Just thought I'd bring the team some breakfast," Naruto said with enthusiasm. He then proceeded to set two of the meals in front of Sasuke and Sakura before digging into his own.

"Naruto, sensei told us not to eat breakfast!" Sakura yelled.

"Did not," Naruto replied between bites. "His exact words were _you might want to skip breakfast_. As it turns out, I don't, and I'm guessing neither do you, so dig in."

Sakura was reluctant to go against Kakashi's words on a technicality. Sasuke had no such qualms, having thought the idea of skipping breakfast was stupid to begin with, and started eating.

"Why do you think he said that to begin with?" he asked Sakura when he saw that she wasn't convinced. "Do you honestly feel like you're going to be in better shape for this test if you don't eat?" Sakura's stomach answered before she could, and she blushed.

"You think he was testing us," Sasuke speculated. Naruto nodded.

"Shinobi can get stupid orders sometimes. Being able to tell those apart from the smart ones is important for a ninja. I'm guessing it's something like that." Sasuke accepted this easily enough and continued eating. Sakura, being convinced now, started eating herself.

"When did you get so perceptive?" she asked Naruto. "You come out of the academy and suddenly you're all intuitive?"

Naruto shrugged. "The academy isn't that important to be honest. It teaches you the theory and basics, but has little influence over your skill as a ninja in the long run." Sakura thought about that as they ate in silence. She didn't really want to believe it. She had thought that her performance in the academy would give her a good head start, and now she was being told that it didn't matter? By the dead last no less? Sasuke was carefully observing Naruto.

_Did he hold back in the academy? That would explain why he suddenly pulled through when it mattered. But then why did he fail the first two times…?_

After another half hour passed, Sakura screamed in frustration. "Where _is_ he?"

"He's at the village memorial," Naruto answered. Sakura looked at him in a mix between surprise and skepticism.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"I saw him on the way here," Naruto lied. In reality, he could sense the jounin's chakra signature from miles away.

"And you didn't ask him why he was so late?" she asked in annoyance.

"I was late myself, so that would be hypocritical," Naruto answered. Sakura groaned.

It was another hour and a half before Kakashi finally showed up. "Good morning," he greeted cheerfully with a wave.

Sakura jumped to her feet. "You're 3 hours late! Again!" she shouted.

"Ah, sorry about that. A black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around," he answered.

"Liar!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi ignored her and set an alarm clock down on the stump behind them.

"It's set for noon," he said, before pulling out two bells. "Your task is to take these bells from me by noon. Those who can't get a bell by then get no lunch, and will be tied to one of those stumps and forced to watch me eat." He observed the surprise on Sakura's face and the comprehension on Sasuke's. Naruto's expression was neutral. "Normally you'd all be sulking at this point, but I can see that you've all eaten breakfast. Care to explain?"

Sasuke and Sakura both looked towards Naruto, who shrugged. "You never ordered us not to eat. You only suggested it. We were hungry, so we ate."

Kakashi nodded in acceptance. "Fair enough." He held up the two bells. "You need to get one to pass. Those who don't get one fail."

Sakura raised her hand. "Um, sensei? There are only two bells," she commented.

"Correct," Kakashi confirmed. "Which means one of you gets sent back to the academy." Sasuke glanced at Sakura, whose face was covered in fear.

_There's no way she'll pass. I'm not sure about Naruto either. What kind of test is this? _

"Kunai, shuriken, use whatever you want. You won't succeed unless you come at me with intent to kill."

Suddenly, Naruto heard laughter in his mindscape. **"So, I guess we're going straight for the tailed beast bomb then?" **Kurama asked rhetorically. Naruto actually cringed.

"And...start!" Sasuke and Sakura immediately leapt away in a scramble to conceal themselves. Naruto jumped at Kakashi with a kunai in hand. It clashed with the man's own weapon. "You know, compared to the others, you're a bit...weird," he commented.

"I get that a lot," Naruto said. He attacked Kakashi with a flurry of swipes from his kunai, which were all blocked. He attempted to sweep his legs, but Kakashi jumped over his foot and grabbed his arm as he landed. Turning, he threw Naruto away. Naruto righted himself in midair before throwing the kunai and landing smoothly. The kunai was deflected, and the two stared each other down for a moment.

"Not bad," Kakashi admitted. "But not good enough. Shinobi tactics lesson #1. Taijutsu."

Naruto grinned deviously before focusing chakra to his legs and launching himself forward. He aimed a kick at Kakashi's chest. The man looked surprised, but caught his foot in one hand. He grunted, caught off guard by the force of the blow, and leapt back.

_He can already enhance his speed and strength using chakra. Interesting. _Naruto dashed forward to press his advantage with a roundhouse kick, which Kakashi leapt out of the way of. He then jumped high into the air and dove towards the man. His punch was dodged and left a small indent in the ground. He quickly palmed the ground with his other hand and swung his body around, sweeping Kakashi's feet. The man's eyes widened as he lost his balance while Naruto continued to balance on his palm, bringing his leg up in an axe kick, which struck Kakashi's chest and slammed him against the ground, leaving an even bigger indent.

There was a puff of smoke, and in the crater lay a broken log. Naruto got up and turned around to face Kakashi again. "I thought this was a taijutsu lesson, sensei," he said with a smirk.

"Hmm, force of habit I guess," Kakashi said nonchalantly. Although he kept his calm, inwardly he was a bit shocked. The alleged dead last of the academy was fighting at a solid chunin level. Were the reports this unreliable these days, or were they just incredibly biased due to the boy's status?

"So are you ready to get serious sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I don't feel inclined to kill my students, so no," Kakashi said lazily.

Naruto shrugged. "Your choice." He threw another kunai, which Kakashi got ready to deflect. Before he could, however, the kunai was replaced with Naruto himself, who was now flying through the air at Kakashi at the speed he had thrown the projectile. Kakashi brought his arms in a cross in front of his chest and blocked the next kick, but he was still sent flying back. Ignoring the pain in his arms, he flipped backwards in midair and skidded to a stop on the ground. Naruto had landed, and was now jumping towards him again. Kakashi sidestepped the punch aimed at his head and grabbed the boys arm. He twisted it in an attempt to hinder him, but Naruto spun his body around in accordance with the limb before aiming another kick at Kakashi, who was forced to retreat one again.

_He's good. Too good. It's not just his speed or strength, or even his skill. It's as if he has experience fighting jounin level opponents. But who…?_

Kakashi was broken out of his thoughts another kunai whizzed at him. He caught it out of the air and threw it back, and it clashed with a shuriken. The two weapons rebounded off of each other before the shuriken vanished from sight to be replaced by Naruto, who grabbed the kunai out of the air and charged Kakashi again.

He's taken the academy basics and exploited them for all they're worth. Kakashi dodged another swipe from the kunai and aimed a punch at Naruto's gut. The punch was blocked by his free hand, but Kakashi swept Naruto's leg this time, and the force of his punch repelled the blond away from him. Naruto landed again, grinning all the while.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself. But you're going to need more than basic level ninjutsu to beat me," Kakashi commented.

"If you insist," Naruto said, before bringing his hand up in a half seal. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly as six corporeal clones popped into existence.

"Shadow clone jutsu," the seven Narutos said in synch before springing into action.

_Ok, maybe it is time to get serious, _Kakashi thought as he blocked and dodged a barrage of punches, kicks, and kunai swipes. He dispelled three clones before a punch connected with his face, sending him flying. Another puff of smoke revealed another broken log, and the remaining 4 Naruto's spun around to intercept the silver haired jounin again.

* * *

Sakura watched in awe as Naruto continued to fight on par with their new sensei. When had he gotten this good? He looked so confident as he fearlessly engaged an elite ninja after having just graduated. And he even looked cool as he did it. _Naruto? Cool?_ She shook her head clear of the foreign notion and wondered how she was ever going to get a bell. As she tried to come up with a plan, she heard a voice from behind her.

"Sakura, pay attention to your surroundings." She panicked and turned around to face none other than Kakashi. Before she could scream, she fell into a daze. Her eyelids drooped, and Kakashi's face became blurry. She fell to the ground, unconscious. "Shinobi tactics lesson #2. Genjutsu." He scratched his head. "I didn't think it would be _that _easy." The shadow clone puffed out of existence.

* * *

As Sasuke continued to look for openings, he became increasingly aware that Naruto had indeed been holding back at the academy. A lot. He thought of all the times that he had easily beaten the blonde in a spar. _Was he playing with me all those times? _The thought made him seethe. He hated people not taking him seriously.

He was broken out of his thoughts as he registered movement behind him. He immediately turned and threw a punch at Kakashi, which was blocked. "Nice senses, Sasuke," the silver haired man complimented. Sasuke grit his teeth and initiated a combo of the intercepting fist, the taijutsu style of the Uchiha clan. Kakashi seemed impressed as he blocked blow after blow, but his eyes widened as Sasuke reached for one of the bells. He was able to touch it, but Kakashi grabbed his arm and launched him threw the air. Sasuke righted himself and landed.

Kakashi hummed. "You know, I was having so much fun that I forgot I was supposed to be protecting those. Funny. Naruto didn't even go for one. Maybe he's a little too battle crazy?" the jounin speculated.

Sasuke ignored the small talk and went through the seals of the fireball jutsu. This seemed to catch Kakashi off guard, and he was engulfed in the flames as a result. Sasuke waited for the flames to clear, but Kakashi was already gone. He frantically checked his surroundings, but there was no sight of him. Suddenly, a hand burst through the ground beneath him and grabbed his ankle, pulling him down into the dirt until he was buried from his neck down. Kakashi emerged from the ground himself and stared down at the Uchiha.

"Shinobi tactics lesson 3: ninjutsu. You did pretty well. It's a shame you didn't get a bell. Bye," he said, before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Naruto stood alone in the clearing and grunted in annoyance. _Looks like I've been ditched. Well, no one said_ he _couldn't use shadow clones_. When he thought about it it made sense. Kakashi's goal wasn't to beat them. It was to prevent them from getting a bell. Technically he could have just hid somewhere if he'd really wanted them to fail. Not that Naruto wouldn't be able to find him. Naruto reached out with his senses to find Kakashi, but something else caught his attention. He sighed before heading in the direction of Sasuke and Sakura's chakra signatures.

He arrived in another clearing to find Sasuke digging his way out of the ground while Sakura helped. "Looks like you guys have had about as much luck as me," he commented. Sasuke glared at him, still neck deep in the ground, and Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Well, maybe a little less."

"What are we going to do? There's no way any of us will get a bell at this rate," Sakura said worriedly.

"We can," Naruto said. Sasuke, who was finally making some progress getting himself out of the ground, grunted.

"I touched one last time. This time I'll get it for sure," he said firmly.

"That won't work. There isn't enough time left," Naruto said. "The only way we're getting those bells is together. What do you guys think? Team up?" Sakura seemed unsure while Sasuke was clearly opposed to the idea.

"Together? But there are only two bells," Sakura pointed out.

"We'll worry about that later," Naruto replied. "It's like you said. If we keep going like this, none of us will pass. I myself would like to see the look on sensei's face when we get them," he said with a smirk.

Sakura looked at Sasuke. "I'd be willing to try…" she said quietly. Sasuke still looked reluctant, but relented.

"Fine. Do you have a plan?" he asked as he looked in another direction.

Naruto just grinned.

Kakashi waited by the alarm clock and leaned against one of the stumps. "Three minutes left. I wonder what they'll do next." Suddenly he heard the air shift, and leaned his head back to avoid a kunai thrown by none other than Sakura. He raised an eyebrow._ A direct assault? Doesn't seem like her style. _She fingered another kunai, which Kakashi got ready to deflect, but as it flew towards him, it was obscured by a puff of smoke, out of which came Naruto. He had transformed himself into a kunai. Kakashi was once again forced onto the offensive against Naruto's unpredictable, patternless attacks. With his attention on Naruto, he almost didn't notice Sasuke's approach. The Uchiha showered him with a hail of kunai and shuriken. He got ready to leap out of the way, but found himself being held down by a trio of Naruto's shadow clones. The projectiles tore through the clones and hit him dead on, only for him to poof out of existence. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

_He substituted himself with one of my clones. _He turned to face a smiling Kakashi.

"Not a bad combination attack. But can you follow it up?" Rather than answering, Sasuke went through the seals for his fireball jutsu again. Kakashi quickly went through the same seals, only faster, and the two fireballs raced toward each other.

"Wind release," came Naruto's voice. "Vacuum sphere!" A compressed blast of wind was shot into Sasuke's flame, which tripled in size. Kakashi's eyes widened. _Two_ genin with elemental jutsu in their repertoires?

The inferno easily overtook Kakashi's flame and swallowed him, scorching the earth itself. As it died down, Sasuke yelled out. "Naruto, from the ground!" Naruto was already in motion, jumping into the air to avoid Kakashi, who dove out of the ground to attack him.

As he landed, Kakashi pressed forward, ducking under a kunai thrown by Sakura to reach Naruto. He kicked the blonde in the face, only for him to vanish in a puff of smoke. Another clone. Sakura came running towards him, eyeing the bells.

"Too easy, Sakura," he said, lazily waiting for her to approach. The girl smirked deviously before instantaneously speeding up and leaping toward him at speeds he hadn't deemed her capable of. She landed a solid punch to his stomach. He grunted, and in his shock, stumbled back. The grinning kunoichi transformed back into Naruto, and Kakashi's eyes widened. From behind him, the real Sakura reached for the bell, but he spun around and grabbed her by the wrist. Before he could throw her, Sasuke kicked his arm, forcing him to let go, and Sakura landed on her feet. Kakashi leapt back for some breathing room only for the area to be shrouded in smoke from Naruto's shadow clone technique. Having forgone the holding back thing, he dispelled every single one of the doppelgangers with precise punches and kicks. _Wait...that was too easy! _he thought as the last one dispelled.

He saw another puff of smoke in his peripheral vision and turned his head downward to see a clone that had transformed himself into a rock. His eyes widened as the fist rushed toward his face and connected before he could move. He was launched off the ground, and two more clones grabbed his arms as the real Naruto stretched his arm forward and yanked the bells off of his waist.

_Well damn._

The clones disappeared, and Naruto grinned from ear to ear as he stood across from Kakashi and held up the bells. "Looks like we pass," he said jovially.

"Yea, looks like you do," Kakashi agreed, rubbing the red mark on his face. "Or at the very least, two of you do. You got the bells, so I guess it's your choice. So then, who goes back to the academy?"

Naruto turned towards his two teammates. Sasuke had his eyes closed, deciding to just accept whatever happened at this point, and Sakura was looking at the ground, thinking that he probably wasn't going to pick her. She hadn't done much after all. "I do," Naruto said. They both looked at him in surprise. He continued to grin as he tossed each of them a bell. "I've been through the academy three times. What's a fourth?" he said nonchalantly. Sakura looked at him incredulously.

"You can't be serious! This was your plan! You're the reason we got this far! I should go back, I did the least," she said.

Sasuke grunted in annoyance. "Enough. I'll go back. If I'm going to pass this stupid test, I'm going to get the bell myself. It's just a blow to my pride otherwise." Sakura looked at him in shock and Naruto in annoyance.

"Stop trying to act all cool Uchiha!" the blonde said as he pointed accusingly at him. "He said it was my choice and I say I'm going back, so don't argue!"

Kakashi rubbed his head lazily. "How troublesome," he said. "If you kids are going to be that way, then I'll have no choice but to...pass all of you!"

Sasuke and Sakura looked at him questioningly, while Naruto pretended to look surprised.

"You guys are the first team I've passed," he said. "Everyone else just ran around doing their own thing, thinking that they could get the bells on their own. But you three decided to work as the team that you were assigned to be despite the rules, which were meant to divide you. A ninja must see underneath the underneath." He looked up at the sky. "You have to remember. Those who disregard the rules are trash. But those who disregard their comrades are less than trash." He smiled at them. "Not many people manage to impress me as much as you three have today. So, you all pass. Starting tomorrow, team 7 will begin its duties as a squad."

Sakura looked extremely relieved. Naruto was grinning madly, and even Sasuke gave a small smile. As Kakashi vanished in a body flicker, Sasuke seemed to hesitate. Finally, he nodded at Naruto and Sakura before walking away.

"Well, that went well," Naruto said, getting ready to return home himself.

"Um...Naruto?" Sakura said hesitantly.

"Huh? What's up?" the blonde asked, turning towards her. Sakura was having trouble meeting his gaze, but took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. It was uncalled for."

Naruto stared at her before sighing. "Don't worry about it, I guess. We all say stupid things sometimes. We're a team now, so let's try to get along. So, till tomorrow then?" She smiled lightly and nodded at him. "Alright, see ya," he said as he began his walk back to his apartment.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. _Team 7 huh? I guess I could get used to this._

* * *

A/N: And team 7 is formed! Tell me what you thought of the bell test this time.


	4. The Training

So a reviewer pointed out that substitution with a living being was a bit overpowered for an E-rank basic ninjutsu, no matter how good one's mastery over it is. To be honest I agree with him, but I was thinking of what Kakashi did in the bell test with one of Naruto's clones when I wrote that. I'm not sure whether that was only possible with a clone and not the original, or if Kishimoto just decided not to implement that anymore, but I've decided to forgo it. So for those of you who want to read that part of the fight again, I've made edits. It's not necessary in order to keep reading though. Just know that D-rank substitution with a living, breathing human won't be happening. And now, onto chapter 4!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter IV: The Training

Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi stared in shock at the recent arrival. They had to be dreaming. This could not be happening. This was the last thing they expected to happen this century. At the very least there would have to be a Fourth Great Shinobi War for this to happen. How could this happen? But there was no denying the plain and obvious as the last man they were expecting to see right now stood before them, raising an eyebrow at their incredulous expressions. Kakashi Hatake was 5 minutes early.

"What's with you two?" the masked man asked. "You looked like you were just trapped in Guy's sunset illusion for an eternity." Asuma narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you and what kind of transformation technique are you using?" he asked.

Kakashi blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Kurenai peered at him closely. "He's definitely not under a genjutsu…" she muttered.

The other jounin watched in amusement before Hiruzen coughed loudly behind them. "If you two are quite done, I would like to get started. Just because I'm three hours ahead of schedule now doesn't mean I have time to waste."

"Three hours ahead? We're only 5 minutes early Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, scratching his head.

"Shut up Kakashi," Asuma grunted.

"Very well," Hiruzen began. "Since everyone is here, we'll start recording which teams have been allowed to pass. Now then, team 1?"

"Pass." The hokage checked a box on the paper in front of him and continued.

"Team 2."

"Fail."

"Team 3."

"Fail."

"Team 4."

"Pass."

"Team 5."

"Fail."

"Team 6."

"Pass."

"Team 7."

"Pass."

"Team-"

"Hold on a second." Genma interrupted. "You actually passed a team Kakashi?"

"Well yea," Kakashi said lazily. Mutterings broke out amongst the jounin, and Asuma stared at the masked man with wide eyes before turning to Kurenai.

"Hey, have you been to hell recently? Was it frozen?" he asked her.

Kurenai narrowed her eyes dangerously. "What makes you think I've been to hell?"

As the jounin continued to stare at him, Kakashi sweatdropped. "What can I say? They're a very motivated group of genin. I told them only three teams could pass. Scared the crap out of them there. You should have seen them after that. They actually got the bells from me."

"And...you passed them?" Raido asked dumbly.

"I think we've already established that he passed them," Hiruzen said in a slightly impatient tone. At that, everyone quieted down and he continued.

"Team 8."

"Pass."

"And team 10."

"Pass."

The hokage nodded. "Your teams will start taking missions tomorrow. Until then, dismissed." All the jounin filed out, glancing at Kakashi as he lingered in front of the hokage's desk. Once they were gone, the hokage looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "Was there something else you needed Kakashi?" he asked.

"I wanted to talk to you about Naruto," the silver haired man said seriously.

Hiruzen set his pen down and gave Kakashi his undivided attention. "What did you think of him?" he asked curiously.

"He was...interesting to say the least. I was surprised when he told me his dream. I knew he wanted to become hokage, but did you know he also wants to bring peace to the 5 great nations?"

Hiruzen quirked an eyebrow again. "This is the first I've heard of it. What is the source of such an ambition?" he asked, slightly confused.

"I was hoping you would know," Kakashi admitted. "The kid has never seen war before after all. Has he ever experienced anything that would lead him to wish for something like that?"

"Not that I know of," Hiruzen said before frowning thoughtfully. "Was there anything else about him that caught your attention?"

"You mean besides chunin level taijutsu and chakra control, liberal use of the shadow clone jutsu, and wind manipulation?" he asked.

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "Are you absolutely sure of this?"

"There's no mistake," Kakashi replied. "He utilized shadow clones in conjunction with his taijutsu as if he already had experience with them. His taijutsu style was unpredictable and erratic, as was his use of the clones. He also demonstrated the ability to fluently focus chakra throughout his body to suit his needs in combat, as if he'd been doing it for years."

Hiruzen was having trouble taking this in. "And wind manipulation?" he prompted.

"That's the strangest part," Kakashi continued. "Supposedly it should take years of training to unlock one's elemental affinity and use it in battle, but he was able to use a B-rank wind manipulation jutsu. I'm wondering how he did it."

It was about a minute before Hiruzen responded. "I assume you know of the incident with the traitor Mizuki about a month ago?" he asked.

Kakashi nodded. "I heard that it was Naruto who caught him, but I was skeptical until today."

"Around the time of that occurrence, Naruto had already started to show a rather fast rate of improvement in certain areas. He if he was already training to better himself, then it's possible that when he caught Mizuki with the scroll, he couldn't help but peek. He is a child after all." He rubbed his chin. "It's a stretch, but that could explain how he learned the art of the shadow clone. As for how he managed the rest, I'm at a bit of a loss."

"The fact that he learned to use shadow clones could very well be the explanation we're looking for," Kakashi said thoughtfully. "There are many ways in which that technique can be utilized."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "You think he's been using them to amplify his training?"

"It's possible," Kakashi confirmed. "If he were to figure out the secret on his own. Normally I'd be worried if he was training that way. It's a forbidden technique for a reason. But as I could tell from the beginning, Naruto's chakra reserves are massive. He could very likely make hundreds of them without tiring. If he's really been pushing himself to the limits with such a training method, it's believable that he's come this far, even if it's still surprising." He paused. "Hokage-sama, I don't mean to sound like I'm suspicious of him, but don't you find it strange that he showed nothing like this in the academy? That his growth rate rapidly increased around the time that he learned about his burden?"

The hokage narrowed his eyes. "You think he's hiding something?"

"Like I said, I'm not suspicious of Naruto," Kakashi amended. "Rather, I'm worried that it might have influenced him."

Hiruzen's face turned grave at this. "If he was being influenced, we would likely know by now."

"I'm not saying anything for certain," Kakashi replied. "But not much is known about his particular seal. He he has indeed been in contact with it, then we're treading on dangerous ground. There's no telling what it could say or do."

The hokage thought for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I want you to keep an eye on him. Report anything of interest to me, but don't be too conspicuous in your observations. I don't want him to feel like we're suspicious of him, but my priority is his wellbeing."

Kakashi nodded and turned to leave before the hokage called out to him again. "Kakashi." The silver haired man turned around. "Take care of him. We've already failed him in so many ways." Kakashi nodded before leaving in a body flicker.

* * *

Team 7 sat in awkward silence. It had been a week since they had passed the bell test, and Kakashi's punctuality hadn't improved much. Lately on the days when Naruto decided to show up on time, he and Sasuke had taken to sparring. It was originally Naruto's suggestion. Sakura had been surprised when Sasuke had agreed to it the first time, but Naruto had just smirked, not missing the curious glint in his eyes.

The two had already sparred for about an hour while Sakura watched. Naruto had asked if she wanted to join in, but she had nervously declined. Now that they were finished with that, they were quickly getting bored. Naruto yawned and turned to Sakura.

"Hey Sakura, what temperature does paper burn at?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at him before turning away.

"232 degrees C," she replied.

"So in theory, if Sasuke were to use fire natured chakra to heat sensei's book to 232 degrees C while I held sensei down, would it catch fire?"

Sakura sighed. "I don't know Naruto, I've never tried burning a book with fire natured chakra before, but in theory it should. Why couldn't he just use a fireball jutsu though?"

"That's too quick! I want it to be slow and painful," Naruto said firmly. "That way he'll know what its like to wait for him." He turned to his other teammate. "Come on Sasuke, back me up here."

The Uchiha completely ignored him, and Naruto pouted. It was another half hour before Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke in front of them, staring down at his book. "Yo! Sorry I'm late. I saw a little old lady trying to cross the street and-"

Before he could finish, Naruto swiped the book out of his hand. The masked man's eyes widened in horror, his nonchalance all but evaporating, as Naruto tossed the book to his teammate. "Sasuke!" he shouted as the book left his hand.

Time seemed to move in slow motion for Kakashi as the book soared towards the raven haired Uchiha. He reached out his hand and leaned forward, slowly, ever so slowly, in a desperate attempt to prevent what was about to happen.

The book sailed right past Sasuke, who made no attempt to catch it, and landed on the ground. Naruto and Kakashi stared down at it with blank expressions, until Kakashi finally made a dash for it and grabbed it. Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"You suck," he said as he pouted again.

"Well, now that that disaster's been thwarted, what do you say we start our training for the day?" Kakashi asked cheerfully. Naruto groaned. For the past week they'd been doing nothing but team building exercises and D-rank missions. It was unbearably dull.

"So what are we learning today?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Well, today we're going to learn how to climb trees."

Naruto perked up in interest at this while Sasuke grunted in annoyance and Sakura looked at their sensei in confusion. "Climb trees? How is that training?" she asked.

"Well, to be more accurate, you're going to be climbing trees without your hands," Kakashi stated. Sakura stared at him in obvious skepticism, and Kakashi smiled. As he led them over to the forest to demonstrate, Naruto was lost in thought. In the previous timeline Kakashi hadn't taught them this until the mission to Wave. Did he simply think they were ready sooner this time, or was it something else that had caused the change?

They all watched as Kakashi head over to the tree and casually started walking vertically up the side of the trunk as if he was strolling through a park. Sakura's expression was surprised, Sasuke's was focused, and Naruto's was blank as the masked man turned to face them, still seemingly defying gravity.

"The hardest parts of the body for a ninja to channel chakra to are the feet. If you can focus your chakra to the soles of your feet proficiently enough to stick to the bark of the tree, then you'll be able to make use of your chakra much more effectively in combat by drawing it forth to different parts of your body as needed. You will also be able to use chakra more efficiently when you use jutsu because you will be able to better control how much you use." As he finished his explanation, he threw three kunai at the genin's feet, then continued. "Focus chakra to the soles of your feet in order to ascend the tree without the use of your hands. You might want to start out running, then try walking when you get the hang of it. Use those kunai to mark your progress."

The three of them each picked up a kunai and stared at the tree. Sasuke was trying to visualize his goal, while Sakura was worried about falling from a decent height if she screwed up. Naruto broke the ice. "Well, what are you waiting for, rookie of the year? Show us how it's done!"

Sasuke didn't look at him as he responded. "You mean you're not going to run at the tree before us to try to get a head start?" he asked absently as he started feeling out his chakra as he focused it to the soles of his feet.

Naruto shrugged. "Opening act comes before the headliner," he said nonchalantly. Sasuke's eye twitched, and, having gotten a feel for the chakra flow, he ran at the tree. He made it about 10 feet up before the wood cracked under his foot and he was pushed off. Grunting, he slashed at the three with his kunai before executing a backflip and landing in a crouched position away from the tree. He glared up at the mark he had made. _If I use too much chakra, I get repelled, but if I use too little, I won't even stick to the tree._

"Alright, my turn!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically, before charging at his own tree. He ran up the bark until he made the same mistake about 15 feet up and was repelled, though the indent he made was noticeably smaller than that of Sasuke's. "Damn," he muttered. "Almost had it." Kakashi's eyes narrowed from where he stood watching.

"Hey, this is pretty easy!" came a familiar voice from above. They all looked upwards to see Sakura sitting on one of the high branches of her tree, and looking down at them in obvious satisfaction.

Kakashi probably could have motivated the other two better by degrading their first efforts, but he decided to keep silent and simply observe. Something was off here. Sasuke was predictably glaring up at Sakura, but Naruto seemed surprisingly upbeat for someone who had just been shown up.

"Hah!" the blonde shouted. "She left us in the dust. Who knew?" He turned to Sasuke. "I don't know about you, but my pride has been damaged. Come on bastard, let's go. I'm not being left behind!"

Sasuke grunted. "Don't order me around, dobe," he said._ I'm in last. Unacceptable_, he thought, before making another run at the tree, Naruto right behind him.

Kakashi called up to Sakura as she climbed down the trunk of the tree. "Sakura, keep practicing until you can stay on the tree for an extended period of time. I'll be back to check on your progress soon."

He started walking away, lost in thought. Naruto had his suspicions raised again. The way he had flawlessly channeled chakra throughout his body during their taijutsu session on day 1, he should have easily been able to get to the top. So why was he holding back…? Kakashi frowned as a possible explanation presented itself. _Sasuke._ He was definitely the type who excelled when he had something to motivate him, but when that motivation was a seemingly insurmountable goal, his frustration at not being able to reach it only deterred him in the long run. Such was the case with Itachi, and such would be the case if he felt he was already far behind his teammate in chakra control. If Naruto were to keep pulling ahead of him bit by bit, it would most likely produce the best results for the Uchiha. But had Naruto realized this? Was he really that perceptive? Even if he was, it would be surprising if he was already that committed to his teammates. He did have his own training to think about after all. Nevertheless, his most unpredictable student had surprised him once again. He had originally been planning to hold off on this training until later, but his team had been progressing nicely, and he wanted to see how they would take it. He also wanted to see how Naruto in particular would handle it, and the boy had surpassed his expectations without even trying to do so. Deciding to think on it when he returned, he promptly leaned against the memorial stone and pulled out his book.

* * *

Sakura panted heavily as she sat against the base of the tree. It had been an hour since they had started, and she was beginning to have some trouble focusing her chakra. It simply wasn't flowing as easily anymore. She had managed to stay on the bark for several minutes at a time, but now she felt she needed a long break. She looked over to Naruto and Sasuke, who were still inching their way further up the tree after every attempt, and wondered how they did it. She briefly remembered something she had learned back in the academy. They had been taught in a lecture that chakra control initially came more easily to those with lower reserves because they had less to work with, and it was therefore easier to direct the flow. Suddenly she felt slightly disappointed. Was the only reason she was so much better at controlling her chakra that she had a lot less compared to her teammates? That was a depressing thought.

Judging from how Naruto and Sasuke were progressing, she could therefore conclude that they had about the same amount of chakra, and maybe Sasuke had a bit more. But then she frowned. Somehow, that didn't seem right. They were both already capable of elemental jutsu...somehow. But Naruto could also make a rather large number of shadow clones. During their D-rank missions over the past week, he had been using them liberally to speed up their work rate, dividing multiple tasks up among the copies of himself. She never complained about the dramatic increase in noise simply because it helped them get their missions done much faster, but one day she had been curious, and had done some research on the shadow clone jutsu when she had gotten home.

It was a B-rank forbidden jutsu that was only used by jounin level shinobi or above due to its exhaustive chakra requirements. The user needed to have a high amount of chakra even for a jounin in order to utilize it effectively because it required the distribution of a decent amount of chakra in each clone in order for said clone to function properly. Shadow clones weren't like the elemental clones, which simply infused a substance such as water or earth with chakra to create a copy of the user. Shadow clones created a copy using pure chakra, which was why they were that much more draining, but had a much more versatile usage in combat due to their higher degree of intelligence.

Sakura did not mess around with her research, and she was coming to an extremely bizarre, yet equally inescapable conclusion. If Naruto could make over 20 copies of himself using the shadow clone jutsu without even feeling winded, which she had seen him do, then he had higher chakra reserves than most jounin. She snuck another glance at him as he marked his next record using his kunai, which was a few feet above Sasuke's latest achievement, and she begrudgingly came to another conclusion. If Naruto really had that much chakra and was still pulling ahead of Sasuke, then she really needed to step up her game, otherwise she would be eating his dust soon. And with that thought, she decided that her break was over and scurried back up the tree.

It had been two hours since Kakashi had left his students alone, and he was now walking back into the forest to check up on them. He was moderately shocked when he was greeted by the sight of Sakura sprawled on the ground, unconscious, while Naruto squatted next to her with clear concern on her face, and Sasuke stood off to the side, his concern well hidden behind a mask of indifference but still there. As Kakashi walked up beside them, Naruto turned to him.

"She has a mild case of chakra deprivation, I think. Luckily she was smart enough to get down from the tree once she felt the strain," the blonde said. Kakashi nodded in confirmation. He was surprised. He knew Sakura wouldn't be able to keep practicing as long as Naruto and Sasuke, but he hadn't expected her to work herself to exhaustion like this. It's not that he was disappointed, far from it. He was just glad that she hadn't been in the tree once she had collapsed.

Suddenly the girl groaned and her eyes slowly opened. She was greeted by the sight of Naruto hovering over her. For a brief moment Kakashi worried she might try to hit the blonde or something, but she just smiled lightly before turning to Kakashi and mumbling something incoherent. Naruto looked at her questioningly.

"Uh, wanna try that again Sakura?" The girl spoke again, louder this time, as she faced Kakashi."

"Seven minutes. My record was seven minutes," she mumbled. Kakashi smiled down at her.

"Well done."

* * *

A/N: And chapter 4 is done. Tell me what you thought.


	5. A Glimpse of Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter V: A Glimpse of Darkness

Team 7 collectively twitched in annoyance as their "target" scurried down an alleyway.

"So? Who gets the pleasure of returning our little feline convict back to his cell?" Naruto drawled.

Sakura thought for a moment before grinning in a deceptively pleasant manner. "I vote Naruto," she said, raising her hand high. The blonde once again twitched in indignation as a ghost of a smirk appeared on Sasuke's face as well, before he too raised his hand.

"Seconded," he said in a false tone of boredom.

"Of all the times for Stiff-ass to grow a sense of humor…" Naruto muttered under his breath before placing his fingers in a familiar cross seal. He could just go get the cat and be done with it, but it wasn't really his style to let this go. 3 clones popped into existence before they all raised their hands and simultaneously yelled, "I vote Sasuke!"

Said boy glared at the original before he decided he didn't really care that much and walked into the alleyway while Sakura giggled. Seconds later, he came out, deliberately carrying Tora at arm's length away from his body as the cat flailed angrily and helplessly.

Kakashi smiled. "Lost Pet Tora search mission: complete," he said in a tone that suggested that this was a some kind of achievement. Although normally he'd prefer that his team work in sync, he knew from experience that they could do that fairly well if needed. They simply didn't deem this as a task worthy of their collective efforts. Kakashi didn't exactly disagree with them…

Over the past week Kakashi had been quite satisfied with his team's progress. They had all gotten the tree climbing down within 3 days time. Sasuke's chakra control had increased substantially, and there was a significant increase in Sakura's reserves as well. Not enough to rival either of her teammates, but it was still impressive considering that Sakura came from a civilian family. As for Naruto...well, Kakashi was still quite sure that the blonde had been holding back. Still, he didn't view this as wasted time seeing as it had helped Sasuke and Sakura improve faster. He was still quite surprised how subtle Naruto could be when he thought it was necessary, but he was also quite proud that his student was cutting back on his own training to aid that of his teammates, who Kakashi knew were significantly behind him. Having the team relatively even in skill did wonders for team dynamics.

What impressed Kakashi even more was the relative ease with which they'd taken to water walking after that. On the first day Sakura had taken a few shaky steps before stumbling into the lake, whereas Naruto and Sasuke and fallen into the water right away. Kakashi wondered how long the "dobe" was going to keep this act up. Granted he wasn't acting stupid like he had in the academy, but he was still holding back significantly. Every time he sparred with Sasuke, the two would fight on par with each other, and the Uchiha would narrow his eyes, wondering what had happened to the kid who had driven their sensei into a corner. Sakura seemed to have no such complaints when Naruto held back against her. Kakashi could tell she knew he was doing it, but she almost seemed grateful. The best way to improve was to be sufficiently challenged, not completely outclassed, and Naruto seemed to instinctively know this.

Really, Kakashi wondered what kind of idiots had labeled this kid a talentless dumbass to begin with. After their training session this morning, Sakura was able to walk on water for almost half an hour, although she still needed to consciously think about what she was doing, while Sasuke could seemingly stay on the surface for far longer, even though he he had to focus more to do it. Neither could hold their own in combat while staying on the surface yet, but that flaw would be fixed with time. Kakashi smirked as he thought about how far ahead his team was. The chances of Asuma and Kurenai's teams having gotten starting on water walking were slim. As team 7 made their way to the hokage tower, Kakashi made up his mind. They were ready.

Team 7 watched with varying reactions as the Feudal Lord's wife crushed the life out of the unfortunate cat. Naruto with annoyance, Sasuke with indifference, and Sakura with pity. The pink haired girl turned to her teammates and whispered. "Do you feel like we're being cruel? I swear this is animal abuse…" Naruto sweat dropped. He turned to Madam Shijimi and spoke up.

"Excuse me, Ma'am?" The woman stopped crushing her cat, much to Tora's relief, and turned to Naruto, who smiled politely. "May I recommend not hugging your cat so forcefully in the future?" he said. The cat turned its head to Naruto with wide eyes.

Madam Shijimi frowned as she stared at him questioningly. "What sort of recommendation is that? I am merely showing my affection for my pet," she said.

"Which is fine," Naruto answered. "But maybe a pat on the head or something just as calm would be enough? I'd be willing to be that he wouldn't run away anymore if you didn't, you know, crush him."

The woman held up Tora at face level and looked him imploringly. "Is that why you've been running away Tora!?" she asked urgently. The surprisingly intelligent cat nodded weakly, and Madam Shijimi huffed. "Well, I suppose I can restrain my affection for your sake then. How could I live with myself knowing I was hurting my dear little Tora?" she said to no one in particular as she made her way over to the door. "Now let's go you poor thing, your dinner's waiting!" Tora seemed to be on the verge of hopeful tears as they both left. Kakashi and Hiruzen both stared on in shock as the doors closed behind them. Could it have been that easy all along…?

Hiruzen quickly gathered himself and cleared his throat. "Well done team 7. If you're looking for another mission for today, I have a few D-ranks leftover," he said.

"Actually Hokage-sama, I was thinking that they were ready for a C-rank now," Kakashi said. Sasuke and Sakura perked up in interest at this statement, while Naruto's looked surprised. Iruka spoke up from behind the hokage's desk.

"Are you sure about this Kakashi? It's only been two weeks since their placement. Isn't it rather soon?" he said.

Kakashi shook his head. "On the contrary, I feel I've been putting it off a bit. Their teamwork has improved a lot and they've each made quite a bit of individual progress as well. I'm quite sure they'll be ready for anything a C-rank can throw at them now." Hiruzen smiled lightly and nodded as he lit his pipe.

"Very well. I was going to assign this mission to a squad of chunin as a breather, but I think it would act as a good learning experience for a genin team," he said as he pulled out a file from his desk. "Otafuku Town has recently been having problems with bandits, who have been pillaging the town and stealing food and supplies. They have even gone as far as to kidnap people from their homes. Our client for this mission will be waiting to meet you there, so you can leave as soon as possible." The hokage's expression turned deathly serious as he continued. "Your mission is to safely return the kidnapped civilians to town and subdue the bandits, but that's not all. The success of this mission will send a clear message: that Konohagakure will not stand by and allow citizens of the Land of Fire to be ripped away from their homes."

Kakashi nodded and accepted the mission, and they left immediately. As they made their way out of the village, Naruto was deep in thought. He hadn't accounted for the possibility that Kakashi would decide they were ready for a C-rank earlier. This complicated things a bit. For now he would focus on this mission, but he would need to put some thought into what to do about the mission to Wave. Ideally Team 7 would still get it. If another another genin team took that mission, it might not end well, although Team Guy could most likely handle it. The problem was that no one would be expecting it to turn into an A-ranked mission with one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist as an enemy. Yea, he'd definitely have to do something about that.

Deciding to think on it later, he returned to the task at hand. The hokage was right, this would be a learning experience for Team 7. He wasn't worried about any threat the bandits would pose to them, not at all. Physically, they were definitely ready. But mentally? He inwardly sighed as he subtly glanced at Sakura. He didn't expect her to freeze up or anything, but this would be a wake up call for her to say the least. Naruto had seen more death than he was proud of, and Sasuke had unfortunately become more intimate with the memories of his clan's demise than was necessary, but Sakura had no such experience. Ideally they would subdue the bandits and that would be that, but in reality it didn't work that way. Bandits fought back. Not only that, but it would be better for his pink haired teammate to learn how the world worked sooner rather than later. Naruto's mood darkened as he realized that taking lives wasn't the only thing she would have to come to terms with on this mission. The hokage had been intentionally discrete when he said that they'd been kidnapping people, but they would probably learn the specifics of that soon enough. _God, I hate bandits_, Naruto thought angrily.

* * *

Kakashi was thankful that his team had gotten ahead on chakra control as they leapt through the trees and Otafuku town came within sight. With the pace they had set, they had made it in under 10 hours. They were greeted with caution when they arrived at the gates, but were simply told to wait for their client once they're identities were confirmed. A few minutes later, a tall, muscular man met them at the gates, telling them that he was Jisuke, their client. He looked to be in his mid 30s. The man explained grimly that the bandits had actually made another raid about an hour before they'd arrived, and Kakashi asked which way they'd gone.

"We saw them retreat towards the east, but we don't even have a general idea of where they've been hiding. I regret to say that there's not much I can do to help." He gritted his teeth as he said this, as if he was having trouble coming to terms with that fact, and Naruto and Kakashi wondered if he had been personally involved in the ordeal.

"Well, it shouldn't be a problem," Kakashi replied. "We should still be able to track them. It hasn't rained and I can't imagine they have much skill in covering their trails."

Jisuke frowned as he took a look at team 7. "Are you sure they're ready for this? They're just kids," he commented in a mix between worry and doubt.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them," Kakashi said as he smiled reassuringly at the man. "They may be young, but they're well versed in the shinobi arts. They should be able to handle anything that's thrown at them, but just in case there are any unexpected obstacles, I'm here as well."

Jisuke nodded in acceptance, then seemed to hesitate about something. Finally, he bowed deeply and spoke in a dejected voice. "Please, do whatever you can. Those bastards...they took my daughter…" he said. Sakura and Sasuke were silent at this, albeit for different reasons, and Kakashi was about to reassure their client again when Naruto spoke up.

"Don't worry. We'll get her back, along with the rest. That's a promise," he said quietly. Sakura smiled lightly at him, and Jisuke was finding it difficult to doubt the boy's words, despite his age. He met Naruto's eyes and nodded a quiet thanks. Suddenly they noticed a plume of smoke behind them and turned to face Kakashi, who was now face to face with a small dog. Naruto grinned in recognition.

"Yo, Kakashi. What do you need me for?" Pakkun asked. If Sasuke was surprised to meet a talking dog, he didn't show it. Sakura on the other hand, was thoroughly weirded out.

"Pakkun, an hour ago a group of bandits fled this town towards the east. We need you to find their hideout," the masked man said.

"Alright, but it will be difficult without something with their scent on it," the dog answered. Kakashi turned back to Jisuke.

"Would you happen to have anything with your daughter's scent on it?" he asked. Jisuke ignored the talking dog phenomenon as well and nodded. He returned a few minutes later with a piece of clothing that they assumed was from the man's home. He handed it to Kakashi, who held it down for Pakkun to sniff.

"Alright, I've got the scent," the dog said. Sakura, although still creeped out, was impressed with their sensei, and Naruto noticed that a glimmer of hope manifested in Jisuke's eyes. Pakkun promptly took off toward the east while team 7 followed closely behind.

* * *

Zori's face was slowly obscured by the shadows as he made his way into the cave which, much to his disgust, was his temporary home. He stopped in front of the large man who he had the genuine displeasure of working with. The man spoke without turning to acknowledge him.

"How are our _guests_?" the man spoke with distaste. Zori frowned. He really hated working with this guy, but when Gato hired a strongarm, there was no room for argument. You either worked with him or you didn't work at all. That is, until Gato decided he was done with him. Oh, how he was looking forward to that part.

"As comfortable as they can be," Zori answered. The man grunted.

"I suppose that's not very comfortable at all, is it?" he drawled. Zori rolled his eyes. Maybe it was just the guy's shinbi pride speaking, but one thing he didn't seem to get was that morals would get you nowhere in life. The strong devoured the weak. That was the way of the world.

"Lighten up man," Zori said in return. "You're not going to kill the mood with another one of your dreary speeches about their shameful behavior are you? This is what we do half the time. Get with the program already." The man scoffed.

"The mission was to gather money and supplies for a man who believes that you can never have too much of either. While I don't particularly care about how Gato makes a profit, I don't see the benefit in this, other than to keep you idiots from getting bored," he replied.

Zori smirked. "I'd say that's a pretty good benefit in and of itself. Come on, it's not like Gato cares how we spend our time while we're here. You think he's watching us right now? Give me a break. He's got better things to do."

The man turned towards him for the first time. His face was shrouded in shadows, but Zori could still make out a wide, sadistic grin. "All I'm hearing right now is that every single one of you is expendable," he said. "Would you say that's accurate? It would be a shame if you all died before we made it back to Wave, but I wonder how much Gato would actually care?"

Zori gulped. He absently fingered his katana as a bead of sweat dripped down his face. Before he could even think about drawing it, the man vanished from his sight, and the same voice spoke from behind him.

"Just make sure you idiots don't disturb my sleep. Otherwise, you'll find out why Gato hired me for this." As Shinji walked out of the cave, Zori slowly regained his composure before dropping his hand from his sword. _I can't wait for Gato to get rid of this guy._

"We're almost there," Pakkun said, breaking everyone out of their thoughts. "They're dead ahead." Team 7 stopped to go over the plan as Pakkun disappeared in another plume of smoke.

"Do you all remember the formation?" Kakashi asked. He got a round of nods and continued. "Two of you engage the bandits while one of you infiltrate their base of operations to extract the civilians. Treat this as a hostage situation."

Naruto thought for a moment. "I think it would be best if Sakura got the hostages out," he said after a while.

Kakashi considered this and nodded. "Good idea." He looked over to Sakura, whose expression conveyed her puzzlement.

"Not that I'm not fine with it, but why is that exactly?" she asked in confusion. Kakashi sighed as he thought about how to say this without being too blunt.

"The hostages might not react well to the presence of Sasuke or Naruto, and if I went in to free them it would be that much worse," he said. Sakura still looked a bit confused, and Sasuke, who had been silent up until now, spoke up.

"They had no motive for taking hostages, Sakura. They haven't made any demands, and I don't think they were expecting to be found either."

Sakura thought about this for a few seconds before it clicked and she went deathly pale. "Then, the ones who were kidnapped…" she trailed off. Her eyes were wide as she looked to them, hoping that they would deny the conclusion that she was coming to.

"Odds are, they're all women," Naruto finished lightly.

Sakura suddenly looked like she was about to be sick. She slumped against the trunk of the tree they were standing in as she made a retching noise. Naruto was immediately at her side, supporting her, as she looked like she might just fall out of the tree at this rate. His eyes were sorrowful.

"Sakura, if you want, I can go in. I'm just a kid after all, they might not…"

"No…" Sakura whispered. In a brief second, she regained her composure and stood straight. Her eyes no longer had the look of horror in them. It was replaced by a determined steel gaze. "I'll go," she said simply. Kakashi looked at her uncertainly before nodding his approval.

"Come on, we've wasted enough time," Sakura said quietly before leaping out of the tree and made her way towards the clearing ahead of them. The rest of team 7 followed wordlessly, and Naruto turned to Kakashi.

"Do you think she's ready for this?" he asked. Kakashi nodded absently.

"I have faith in her skills," he said.

"So do I," Naruto replied. "That's the problem." Kakashi was silent. He had a good idea of what would happen if Sakura went, and although every conservative instinct in him was screaming at him to go himself, he forced down those instincts and listened to his better judgement. This was the world they lived in. Everyone rose to face that reality sooner or later, and for a ninja, it better happen sooner.

Finally they broke out into the clearing. None of the drunk bandits took note of them as they silently charged in, and several of them easily fell prey to a hail of shuriken courtesy of Sasuke before the rest noticed their assailants. The ones that had been hit were on the ground, crippled by the Uchiha's precision throws, which had aimed to incapacitate.

"Shit, shinobi!" one shouted, before the rest were galvanized into action. They all charged in one reckless wave. Kakashi dived right into the fray and started disabling opponents left and right with swift kicks and precise jabs. In a matter of 10 seconds, close to 30 of them were out of the fight. Sakura continued to race toward the entrance to the cave, weaving in between bandits who were all too eager to halt her advance. Soon she was surrounded from all sides, and the bandits grinned as she seemingly had no escape route. She quickly disproved that notion when focused a small amount of chakra to her legs and leapt high over their heads before landing behind them. They were ready to give chase again when suddenly the area was shrouded in smoke. The bandits' screams could be heard from inside the shroud. When it cleared, four shadow clones stood over the unconscious bodies of about 20 of them.

Sakura reached the entrance of the cave and was met by a slim, white haired man who had just stepped out, having heard the commotion. He seethed as Sakura charged towards him, determined to take his anger out on whatever came his way. "You bitch!" he shouted as he drew his sword and slashed wildly at her She slid under the swipe and kept running without missing a beat. He was about to turn around and go after her when a kunai came into his peripheral vision and was forced to block it with the blade of his katana. He immediately followed by blocking his opponent's kunai swipe, though he grunted under the force of the swing, despite the superior mass of his weapon.

"Your opponent is me," Sasuke said in a low tone.

* * *

Sakura's eyes quickly started adjusting to the pitch blackness of the cave as she focused some chakra into them. She ran through the cave silently until she heard voices echoing in the darkness and leaned against the wall. She peered around the corner and pulled two kunai out of her pouch, taking one in each hand.

"Is something happening outside?" one bandit asked.

"Who knows? Zori went to check, but I'm sure it's nothing. They probably got too drunk and started fighting," another replied. Sakura leaned further to get a better view, and was dismayed at what she saw. In the depths of the cave, behind about 15 bandits, were dozens of women, all tied up. Some looked to be in their mid twenties, while others were in their teens. But all had one thing in common: the hopeless, defeated expressions on their faces.

Suddenly one of them met eyes with Sakura. She could be no older than 13. They were around the same age. But there was a fundamental difference between them. Their eyes. As she stared into the girl's dead gaze, which made no acknowledgement of her presence, as if the girl comprehended what she was seeing but didn't seem to care, Sakura found that she couldn't turn away from those eyes. They spoke of an incomprehensible sorrow. At that moment, Sakura's eyes fully adapted to the darkness, and she felt as if she was staring into a mirror that reflected nothing, nothing but the absence of light. And yet, here in the darkness, Sakura felt she could truly see for the first time, and she marvelled at the breadth of the unknown world that her blissfully blind eyes had disregarded for so long. She could see it clearly now.

The kunai she threw met its target head on, and the rest of her targets stilled as the man sank to the ground, choking on his own blood and clutching at his ravaged throat. It was then that Sakura pushed another stream of chakra to her legs and darted forward with a second kunai in hand.

* * *

Sasuke stared down at the unconscious swordsman in contempt. "Is this the best they have to offer?" he asked with a scoff.

Naruto finished taking down the last of his opponents and shrugged. "They're just common thugs. I'm surprised they had a missing-nin leading them though," he commented as he turned towards Kakashi, who was staring down his sweating opponent.

"Shinji Akudo, former chunin of Kirigakure, correct?" he asked lazily. The man smiled grimly.

"Well, at least you know my name," he replied before another failed attempt to move his useless arms. Kakashi had neatly severed the muscles in both of his arms. Even the genin could take him down now. What a shameful defeat this turned out to be.

"I'll have the decency to remember it, seeing as this is your last battle," Kakashi said. He leapt forward, faster than the man could react, and imbedded his kunai into the man's heart. Shinji coughed up a large amount of blood before the light left his eyes. Kakashi swiftly pulled the kunai out, and the dead man collapsed to the floor.

Seeing as that was the last of the bandits, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke made haste towards the entrance of the cave. They came to a stop when they saw a crowd of women shakily walking out and covering their eyes as they were not used to the sun at the moment. When their vision cleared, they spotted the three ninja, and they all immediately stiffened in fear.

"Relax," Kakashi said, holding his hands up. "We mean you no harm," he said. He looked around the crowd and frowned. "Where is Sakura?" The crowd just continued staring at him hesitantly, before one of the older of the bunch swallowed her fear and stepped forward.

"If you mean the girl who freed us, she's still in the cave," she said reluctantly.

Naruto made his way into the cave and started running towards the back. When he spotted Sakura, he flinched at the scene before him. There were over a dozen dead bandits, lying on the ground in pools of their own blood. But that wasn't what made him flinch. In the center of it all, Sakura was on her knees, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the ground. Naruto slowly walked up and knelt beside her. She looked at him before turning away in shame. Naruto put a hand on her shoulder before she spoke.

"Say it," Sakura growled. "I'm a monster aren't I?" Naruto was silent, and Sakura continued. "I killed them. Not because I needed to, not because I felt I should, but because I _wanted_ to." She seemed to choke on the last words. "Go on, say what you think," she said as a small sob escaped her.

Naruto shrugged. "Fine then," he said. "Sakura, you're an idiot." The girl looked up at him in confusion, wondering what he meant by that. Naruto's hand was still on her shoulder, and his gaze was deadly serious.

"We're shinobi. We kill. It's our job. These men are the real monsters, and by killing them you've ensured that they can never do this to anyone else. I don't know what you thought the life of a ninja was like Sakura, but this is what you signed up for."

Sakura was silent as Naruto pulled her up and led her out of the cave. As they walked, she spoke up. "Do you think it ever gets easier?" she whispered.

"No," Naruto said simply.

* * *

A/N: A bit of a dark chapter I'll admit, but I see it as necessary character development.


	6. Wave Gets Rough

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter VI: Wave Gets Rough

Sakura had been extremely subdued on their way back to Konoha. Their client's gratitude only seemed to amplify her guilt, and Naruto wondered if he'd made a mistake. Even if she would have found out eventually what the bandits had been doing (she wasn't stupid), and even if it helped her accept the trials of shinobi life sooner, that didn't make _his_ guilt ease up much.

Upon being paid for a successful C-rank mission, Naruto thought for a split second that she may not accept the money. The look on her face seemed to suggest as much. His mind wandered back to his first days as a genin, and he wondered how inclined he'd have been to accept pay for killing people, even if they'd deserved it.

The answer was, of course, not very.

But Sakura had just swallowed and accepted the money without a word.

It had since been about a week, and they were back to D-rank missions. Despite the success of the first one, Kakashi-sensei seemed to think that they needed a reprieve. Naruto privately thought he was giving Sakura time to heal, and couldn't help but agree. She could easily freeze up on in a confrontation if she was this traumatized.

Still, this led to an obvious predicament. Well, obvious for him anyway. What the hell was he going to do about the situation in Wave? If Team 7 didn't end up getting the mission, then it would go either to a small squad of chunin or another genin team, neither of which would be likely to be a match for Zabuza Momochi. Not every genin team had Kakashi Hatake on it, and the only other one in Konoha that could hold up against that kind of opposition was Guy's team.

The fact that he wouldn't have a bridge named after him this time wasn't nearly as much of an issue, but that didn't mean he couldn't still be upset about it.

It was another couple days before Naruto was forced to give any more thought to the issue, when they were on their way to the Hokage's office to receive pay for one of their more mundane D-ranks. On the way, they passed Team 8 in the hall. Team 8, and a grumbling Tazuna.

Shit.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Uh, no Sensei. I was just curious...it looks like Team 8 got their first C-rank."

Kakashi stared at him for a moment, and Naruto wondered if he'd catch the lie, but the jounin merely nodded after a moment. "Looks like everyone's making progress. I still get the honor of saying my cute little genin were the first to complete one though," he said with a smile under his mask, causing Naruto to roll his eyes.

"Right."

* * *

As dusk fell upon Konoha, and the civilians and shinobi alike retired for the night, a blonde haired genin stood atop the roof of his apartment, and a single shadow clone materialized behind him.

"You know what to do," he instructed. The clone nodded, and the real Naruto vanished over the rooftops in a body flicker.

* * *

Kurenai Yuhi walked with a slightly nervous gait, although it would take an experienced shinobi to notice it. On their route to Wave, two chunin missing nin had jumped them. Seeing as she had signalled her team beforehand, they were quick to get into formation. Luckily, she was able to take the two by surprise and subdue them quickly, so the three genin hadn't gotten involved.

But now they were faced with a mission that was at least B-rank, and potentially higher, because their client lied about the threat they were facing. While she herself had been leaning toward turning back, Kiba had loudly announced that he was in favor of continuing. Shino had lent his own quietly voiced agreement, and, evidently not wanting to disappoint her teammates, Hinata had done the same. Ultimately she had allowed the mission to continue, but had sent a request for reinforcements back to Konoha. She was starting to worry though. There was the chance that they wouldn't make it before their next inevitable encounter with enemy shinobi.

Right as she finished the thought, she nearly froze as her senses warned her of the possible threat. She signalled to Hinata discreetly. The girl's eyes widened slightly before she activated her bloodline. Unfortunately, the girl's reaction must have tipped off their assailant, and Kurenai was forced to drag Tazuna to the ground as she shouted for her team to get down.

After feeling the wind that rushed above her head and hearing the sound of metal imbedding itself into the wood of a tree, she looked up, and felt a chill go down her spine. Staring down at her was one of the former Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi.

She gritted her teeth. Their reinforcement had yet to arrive and she was faced with an A ranked ninja while having to cover her team of fresh genin and a civilian. As a relatively new jounin, she wouldn't like her chances against this particular ninja on a good day. Under these circumstances, this was practically a death sentence.

No, she couldn't think like that. Perhaps she'd been foolish to let this mission continue while knowing the risks, but that was then, and this was now. She had a team to protect.

"Konoha ninja, huh?" Zabuza drawled. "I don't think I've ever seen you in the bingo books though," he said, still staring at Kurenai. "I'll make you a deal. Hand over the bridge builder and you and your brats can go free."

"I think we both know that's not possible," Kurenai replied, a bead of sweat rolling down her face.

Zabuza shrugged. "Can't say I mind a little bloodshed. I haven't faced a jounin level opponent in a long time...this might be a little fun." As soon as he finished speaking, his killing intent flooded the area, leaving her students and client petrified.

Kurenai started casting a genjutsu, but was interrupted midway through as Zabuza vanished into a body flicker that was almost too fast for her to track. She ducked under the swing of her sword, narrowly avoiding decapitation, and pulled out a kunai to block the follow up strike. Her muscles protested under the force of the swing as she slowly lost ground before she was able to activate her genjutsu. Zabuza's body froze up for a split second, in which she raised her kunai for a killing strike, but dread formed in her gut as she felt a pulse of chakra and was forced to leap back to dodge another swing of a giant cleaver from a now free Demon of the Mist.

"Genjutsu expert, huh? I should be more careful, I suppose," he said as he brought one hand up in a sign that had her cursing.

"Get in formation! Protect the bridge builder!" she shouted as she let out her own chakra to act as a buffer to the killing intent that was flooding the clearing. Her students hastily did as she asked, all of them recognizing that this opponent was not one to test their luck against. A thick mist manifested throughout the area, making visibility nearly nonexistent as Zabuza suppressed his chakra signature. Kurenai was on full alert, straining her senses to locate the lethal jounin. Her genjutsu wouldn't work if she couldn't find him.

"Hinata!" she shouted urgently, and the girl quickly obeyed the unspoken order, activating her Byakugan once again, before gasping.

"Sensei, two water clones in front! But the real one's behind us!"

Kurenai leapt into action, killing the two clones that attacked first, before meeting Zabuza's blade again on its path to slice Tazuna in two. The man let out an annoyed grunt before creating a third water clone with a single hand sign. Kurenai was forced to block another swing from the clone before it too was disposed of, but it served as enough of a diversion for Zabuza to nearly bisect her as she dropped to the ground to avoid said fate. She couldn't avoid the kick that followed, however, and was hurtling towards the water, which she met with a loud splash. The next thing she knew, she was encased in a water prison, and had to hold her breath as her body was held in place.

Zabuza made another water clone, which jumped out of the water as the mist cleared. Evidently he realized that this fight was basically over as the trio of genin looked on in shock.

"Well, now that that's over, all that's left is to off the old man and be done with it. You should have taken my offer before. But I'm a man of my word, so it looks like I'll be killing you all today," he said menacingly as the clone strode forward.

What followed could only be described as a one sided beatdown. Kurenai wanted to tell them to run, but seeing as they wouldn't hear her, doing so would only waste precious oxygen. She could only watch as Kiba attempted his clan techniques against the clone, who merely backhanded him and Akamaru away lazily. Next was Shino, whose swarm of bugs went right by the clone and targeted the real Zabuza, but the elite jounin merely raised a hand and cast a rather simple water jutsu which soaked them all, rendering them useless.

Next was Hinata, who, despite her trembling, rushed forward with her bloodline activated, which seemed to amuse the clone more than anything.

Before she even knew what happened, the air was forced out of her lungs, and she was suspended in the air by her neck, which was held in a vice grip by the single clone before her. Kiba let out an enraged cry and charged again, but he was once again repelled by a swift kick to the stomach.

"So this is what passes for ninja in Konoha these days? When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood. Little brats like you have no idea what it means to be shinobi," Zabuza intoned as he raised his sword, ready to dismember the girl struggling in his grip. He stopped, however, the blade suspended in the air by his unmoving arm, as his eyes narrowed.

The clone suddenly burst into liquid and collapsed into a puddle on the ground. Hinata took in a large breath of air as she fell, only to be caught by her unknown benefactor. She stared at the new arrival in shock, along with everyone else present. It was a tall, lean built man with black hair and sharp blue eyes who set her down carefully before standing back to his full height.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly. She could only nod numbly as he stared at him.

Those eyes...she'd never seen them before, and yet, there was something familiar about them…

Zabuza, meanwhile, was observing this new occurrence with narrowed eyes. This unknown shinobi—for he could be nothing else, despite the lack of insignia on him—had entered the scene and dispersed his water clone before he'd even had time to locate him. Definitely jounin level in skill, but extremely arrogant considering he had his back to the real enemy. Still, that speed could be troublesome. It might be best to dispose of the other jounin before this got messy.

"You don't want to do that," the newcomers said as he turned around, causing Zabuza's eyes to widen slightly, before he narrowed them again.

"I don't? And why would that be?" he asked, annoyed.

"Because, it would be a shame if I had to kill you," came the simple answer.

This only caused him to growl. "Bold words. If she's so important to you, then start morning, because you just killed her!" he shouted as he raised his sword.

Only to let out a cry of pain as his arm was impaled by a kunai from behind. Nearly dropping the giant cleaver, he turned to see a replica of the man in front of him.

A clone. And he hadn't even noticed.

The doppelganger made another jab for his other arm, but Zabuza leapt out of the way, dispersing the water prison in the process, which had been the clone's aim to begin with. Kurenai took a few deep breaths as she held herself atop the water.

Furious now, Zabuza yanked the kunai out of his arm and shifted his cleaver over to his now free hand before making a water clone to hold off the shadow clone and charging at who he assumed to be the original, who was still standing next to Hinata. His strike was blocked by a kunai laced with wind chakra, which actually began to cleave through the large blade before Zabuza broke the exchange and swung again, determined to take out this new threat.

As his next blow was blocked, his opponent smirked. "Aren't you forgetting someone?" he asked. As Zabuza took another swing, he was shocked to see that it actually connected, spraying his opponent's blood through the air, until his words sank in, and he cursed before releasing the now apparent genjutsu. It was too late though. He was forced to drop his cleaver this time as another kunai, courtesy of this mysterious stranger, was shoved through his remaining good arm. A sweep of his legs later, and he was pinned to the ground with a kunai held at his neck, left only to wonder who the hell this guy _was_ before a blow to the head knocked him unconscious.

Kurenai was wondering the same thing as she appeared in front of her mysterious benefactor, who she could tell was under an Anbu level transformation. She eyed him warily. He had, no doubt, just saved all of their lives, and yet she had no idea who he could be. It was unlikely that their reinforcements would arrive under a transformation.

"Who are you?" she asked, only half expecting an answer.

"Just a friend," he replied, causing her to frown. Her students, who were still in shock, simply looked back and forth between the two, as if expecting to find something that would explain all of this.

Before she could continue her line of questioning, a hail of senbon whizzed by and tore through Zabuza's neck. Her eyes widened as she tracked their trajectory to a nearby branch, where a young boy in a the mask of a Kiri hunter nin gazed at them impassively.

The moment she looked away, the man beside her body flickered away, disappearing too fast for her to track.

* * *

A/N: It's been a while since I updated this. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and remember to review.


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